The fate in our hands
by Shadow Priesstes
Summary: It was the usual meeiting between the gods when a note appears from the Fates giving the Gods and two groups of demigods the chance to not only change they future, but to also learn what it means to be family. Will trust overpower old rivalries and hurts while reading about what will come ahead of them all or will everyting stay the same...
1. Blame my grandaunts for this

A/N: I think that I have read to many of these type of PJO fics, so here is a second one from me which is not a crossover and of course with my own type of twist to the story.

P.S.: due to some incidents by earlier fics with some readers failing to note the term **"child of characters who told them about happenings and due to parents meet important characters" **so no complaining about my OCs, I never do characters without equal strength and weaknesses.

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I. Blame my grandaunts for this

It was a normal day in Olymphos, to be more precise the Winter Solicit, filled with arguments between the gods and goddesses. Demeter was complaining to Hades for the kidnapping of her daughter while Persephone stood between them to prevent her mother and husband from attacking each other. Athena was gloating about her triumph over Poseidon for getting to be the patron of Athens while the god tried to ignore her, he accepted his defeat after having his little revenge, with that what he did with Medusa in her temple. Though to be honest, he hadn't wished that fate on that poor girl, to become a monster who was then killed. He was still kind of pondering if Pegasus who was born from her blood counted as his son or not… you don't walk up to a girl who got turned into a monster because of you and ask them casually if they happen to be pregnant by you. Even Hermes and Apollo weren't this dumb. Speaking of the Messenger of Gods and the Sun God, they were currently going over the plan asto how they could get Apollo into the Hunt's camp. Artemis did not notice they whispering because she was busy trying to explain it to Aphrodite that she _doesn't _need a love life. Zeus and Hera were again in an argument about Hera plotting against Zeus's demigod children when there was suddenly a flash of light making all arguments stop and make the gods stare with confusion at they guests.

There where the light flashed stood Amphitrite and Triton, both confused why they were here on Olymphos and that they possessed legs before a frown appeared on the queen's face, when spotting two heroes her husband had sired, Theseus and Orion from which the later was busy not to look at Artemis for Apollo was glaring at him, while his brother tried not to meet the annoyed look of Dionysus because of Ariadne. The other guests were also confused why they were suddenly here in front of the gods, Hercules was careful to avoid the dark look on Artemis's face, she was angry because of the hurt he had caused her lovely Zoe. Perseus on the other hand kept a careful eye on the Queen of Gods and on his wife princess Andromeda who looked close to fainting unlike they son, Perses found the whole thing exciting.

"What is the meaning of this?" Zeus demanded from the group.

"Brother, if you would care to look at they faces you would know that neither of them has a clue about how they had come here." Hades said rolling his eyes as he sat down on his guest throne, he hated that thing because it was only there for this one day.

"I agree with uncle in this father." Athena said sighing, she hated being confused by unexplainable happenings.

"Uh…if I may speak Lord Zeus." Andromeda's unsure voice drew all attention to her, a note was in her hands. "This piece of pergamen was on the ground and may explain why we all are here."

"Then you may read it to us and no one should dare interrupting her." Zeus said to his daughter-in-law as she nodded hesitantly, she was not used to be in the presence of so many gods.

_To the Gods of Olymphos_

_We have brought here the Heroes of Old, the fair princess and her child, the Queen of Seas and prince Triton. Soon a new group will appear two groups to be correct, the Heroes of New even thought they deeds will be only happening in about one and a half year in the time from where we have taken the first group, the second one will come from a bit later. They are descendants from the first shifting of the Western Civilization. In the future the world will be plunged two times into great despair, these heroes shall be the key to save the Gods from destruction. We have chosen this time period in the old days because then you won't be jumping to idiotic conclusions. – Yes, we mean mostly you Zeus, you tend to act like an overgrown child – … _

There were some chuckles from some of the gods and well, they weren't technically interrupting.

…_Those demigods shall __**not**__ be harmed by any of you for they death would mean your own demise in the future so head our advice! Apollo may also inform the one introducing himself as a legacy of his that he shall be careful with his big mouth, we have taken care about it that he doesn't interrupt you all too much. _

At this looked everyone confused at Apollo who only shrugged while Artemis muttered that someone should have also taken care about her brother's big mouth, hopefully in a different way then he likes it. She shuddered at the sudden, unwanted mental images.

_Usually it is not something we allow to happen, but after a throughout discussion between us, our mother and with her help also with grandfather was it decided that you all shall read ten books about the future featuring a young, unique hero who is different from all those who have come before him. _

At this looked the four heroes of old confused at each other, a demigod who surpassed them all?

_You will have the chance to change the future, to save people from dying and to be at least a bit more of a family. _

Hera perked up at this, she will tolerate any demigod if it should mean that her family would be a bit closer to a perfect one.

_Believe us we never thought that it is possible, but we got proven wrong so it might be good to start this process a good deal earlier with less tragedy leading up to it and we think that Lord Hades and his workers would also be pleased with less overnight shifts, we know our two brothers would surely agree on that. _

Hades nodded, that would truly help if he would have less paperwork and all the other stressing things that come with his job. Persephone also smiled at her husband, less work would mean that in those moths she was in the Underworld would Hades have more time for her. She knew that he tried, but his work was tiring him out and it was not a one time occurrence that she found him sleeping by his desk, surrounded by stacks of paperwork, his face smeared with ink because he fell asleep on the document he had been working on.

_This brings us to the last group who will come from our time, these are not demigods, but legacies, though don't let yourselves be fooled because somehow they have still inherited strong powers from they parents so they may be able to use the gifts from two gods. – Some of the demigods we send from the future are the parents of these legacies, so some of you will have the amusing chance to also meet your grandchildren. – We also wish to mention that one of them is different from them all for she can't be fully called a legacy or a demigod in the meaning of the words due to the circumantes of her birth. The rules of not harming anyone also extends on them! Have fun reading and try not to have all too many heart attacks. _

At this exchanged everyone unsure glances with each other.

_Sincerely _

_The Fates_

_P.S.: Grandfather has sent word by our mother that when you finish all books will everyone return to the time they had come from, but will be allowed to keep they memories about that what was read if they decide to change the things that went wrong. In those cases will the timeline split and an alternate dimension will be born so the different timelines will not interfere with what you decide to do in the end. Hope that this will be enough for the goddess of wisdom. _

Athena nodded blushing while some of the others snickered at her, mostly Poseidon.

"Well, this was certainly an interesting letter, though who is the grandfather of the Fates?" Apollo asked his father, not noticing his brother flinching, Zeua shifted uneasily in his throne while Hera smirked at him, Artemis only glared.

"The Fates are the daughters of Nyx the Goddess of Night, she is your great-grandaunt in other words sister to your great-grandmother Gaia the Earth. She like her sister and three brothers were the children of Chaos, he was the primeval state of existence, a being without a true form, a silent emptiness who gave birth to your great-grandmother Gaia and her siblings Tartaros" Hades nodded the god rarely appeared in full form in the domain he created he preferred to stay hidden" Eros the embodiment of love before deciding to watch from the sidelines after Aphrodite come, Erebus the silent darkness and Lady Nyx. I should mention that from all of them say most that she is the most similar to her father thought no one knows why."

"But if he has no form how can his daughter be similar to him?" Perses asked curiously.

"It is because of a feeling young one; you should never offend her then she will take cruel retribution." Zeus said to his grandson.

"Believe your grandfather and uncle child, she is not a lady when angry." Hermes said flinching; she took that thing with him stealing her granddaughter pretty badly on top of the other mess his father caused. He didn't dare doing deliveries by night for a few years, for she would send shooting stars after him, no wonder that some of her children represented not exactly positive things or if they were in trouble they would hide behind they mother.

"And you deserved it father for what you did to Nemesis." Artemis growled, she had liked the goddess, she was her best friend who even decided to be part of the Hunt, so close was they bond, but after her father's actions had she started to keep a distance from her because she was not a maiden anymore. It hurt Artemis because she knew that she had not wanted it, her father had robbed from her a person she held dear, they bond shattered and one of her half-brothers had even made things worse with stealing her once friend's child born from the forced union.

Sensing the tense atmosphere tried Orion to diffuse the situation, well he would have gladly let someone else do it, but all the gods seemed to busy with either glaring at Zeus and Hermes or calming down Artemis and his lovely brother and cousins had pushed him forward.

"Uh…does someone know when these demigods from the future will be arriving?" and as if to answer his question there was a flash of light and a large group of strangely dressed, confused teens appeared in the middle of the throne room. "Forget that I asked."

It was Hestia who left her place by the heart and went over to the children and explained them the letter in kind words, one of the groups seemed to take the news slightly better then the other who were looking about to faint from the sheer thought that they are in the presence of the gods, though one looked more bothered by it then overwhelmed.

"Young heroes, state your names and your parentage." Zeus said, glad that now the attention was off of him, he didn't need to remember what the Night Goddess had done to him in her anger because of her daughter, there was a ground why he backed away so readily when Hypnos his behind her skirt.

The children nodded and two blonde teens stepped forth.

"Annabeth Chase, Daughter of Athena." said the girl, her mother smiled kindly at her.

"Malcolm Kent, Son of Athena." with that he stepped back beside his sister feeling awkward when seeing his mother smiling at him. This was something to which he was not used and hoped that the Stolls would not dare using this as blackmail against him. Speaking of the two troublemakers, they were the ones next up with they third brother.

"Travis" started one of the boys beside the one who could be his twin.

"and Connor Stoll, Sons of Hermes."

"Chris Rodriguez, Son of Hermes." Hermes grinned at his boys while most gods held back a groan about the thought of having to watch out for a flood of pranks and disappearing objects, in fact Hephaestus was already thinking about improving some of the traps he has made around his quarters and his throne.

"Katie Gardner, Daughter of Demeter." said a petite looking girl at which Demeter tried to ignore the smirk her son-in-law/brother was giving her while Persephone decided to wait a bit and see if she should try getting to know her half-sister, but she was sure to hold this against her mother, but there was something she needed to know.

"Katie, do you have other demigod siblings?" the Queen of Dead asked curiously while her mother looked nervous.

"Yes, I have at least fifteen half-siblings." she said not fully understanding why her older half-sister asked, though she needed to admit that she was really beautiful.

"I see." Persephone replied smiling, yep she will be using this against her mother, meanwhile had Katie stepped back and another young man with blonde hair and blue eyes stepped on her place.

"Will Solace, Son of Apollo." Apollo grinned at his son, missing the fact that Artemis was rolling her eyes at him.

"Clarisse La Rue, Daughter of Ares." it was an interesting sight to see the God of War falling out of his throne while some of the other gods and heroes started spluttering.

"I…I have a daughter…?" Ares asked looking slightly mortified which confused Clarisse because her father never looked like this while Ares tried desperately to figure out how to deal with a female demigod daughter. The only thing he knew about women was how to bed them!

"Was about time that you have a daughter beside all your sons." Aphrodite said finally, she was curious what fun she could have with the girl's love life.

"Now is it your turn, we know that you descendants of a time when the Flame will shift to a new territory to where we may follow it." Zeus informed the children after getting over the thought of Ares having a daughter, he really didn't see that ever happening.

"I'm Reyna, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Daughter of Bellona. Her Greek counterpart is Enyo." stated a black haired girl as she bowed to the gods.

"She is fun talking to about war." Ares agreed.

"Jason Grace, Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Son of Jupiter, my father's Greek counterpart is Zeus." replied the young man beside Reyna making Hera glare at her squirming husband, he was still at it, but at least is the boy named after her favourite of those brats, while Perseus and Hercules were looking with interest at they little brother.

"You are my uncle to?" asked little Perses as he run up to Jason who was now feeling extremely awkward, but managed to nod before freezing down as the child hugged him happily. For Perses was this all too much fun.

"Dakota, Senior Centurion of the Fifth Cohort, Son of Bacchus, his counterpart is Dionysus." at this looked the God of Wine interested at the boy and gave him a little smile which surprised Dakota somewhat because this was the first time he saw his father in person, and in Greek form, but it was nice to finally meet him none then less.

"My name is Gwendolyn, but I prefer to be called Gwen" said a shy looking girl carefully before continuing her introduction "Centurion of the Fifth Cohort and Daughter of Venus, her counterpart is Aphrodite."

"YEY I HAVE NOW ALSO ONE OF MY DEMIGOD CHILDREN HERE!" squalled the love goddess happily, nearly making everyone deaf.

"The lady is pretty loud." stated little Perses making the goddess blush and some gods snicker.

"I'm sorry sweetie." Aphrodite to the little child, he was so cute.

"Frank Zhang, Member of the Fifth Cohort, still undetermined." Frank said before stepping back so that the last of they group could step forth, a lanky blonde teen.

"Does he also remind you of Luke?" Chris whispered to his brothers who nodded as they watched the last of the Roman group. They were all not sure how to feel seeing that Greeks and Romans were rivals and they had not known that there were Roman demigods left, similar to the other group who were thinking the same only switching up the names.

"I'm Octavian, Centurion of the First Cohort, Augur, I'm a Legacy of Apollo." he finished proudly.

"Well, he got your ego for sure." Artemis whispered to her brother who was now looking at his grandson, remembering what the letter said, he had noticed the disgusted look on his face when the Greek part of the group introduced themselves.

"Octavian." he said addressing the blonde.

"Yes Lord Apollo?" he asked curiously.

"In the latter the Fates advised me to advise you to be careful with your words, I don't know what they did, but they can surely be creative if they wish to be." the Roman demigods started laughing at the expression on Octavian's face, it was priceless.

"Now that this is done we need only the books and the last group to arrive." stated Hera, still somewhat miffed at her husband, but she would keep calm for the chance to get her perfect family.

Soon a new light appeared, but this time it was above the golden table in the throne room and a group of kids fell from it, crashing on the golden table except three of them, one was caught by gathering shadows, for the second the earth formed some type of a cushioned hand and the third missed the table and landed on the floor. The gods and heroes were watching the nine visitors with great interest, there were six boys and three girls, one of the boys had a bag with him which they guessed held the books in it.

"Ugh…why is it that you two land comfortably and we crashed on the table…a solid gold table none then les." groaned a blonde boy with sea-green eyes as a black haired, grey eyed girl climbed carefully down from him.

"Speak for yourself…ugh…I got the marble floor…" groaned the blonde boy who had an unfortunate, intimate meeting with the floor.

"You guys know that you could just have used your own powers to break your fall." stated the boy who was caught by the earth, he had medium skin complexion with shoulder length black hair and golden eyes.

"Good, the next time En's grandaunts send us on a trip will I be ready to concentrate less on falling and more on landing." replied another boy with brown hair before glaring at the brown haired girl on top of him. "Could you now get down from me cus? The table is not all too comfortable to lay on."

"Quit complaining." the girl replied, but got still got down from him and proceeded to climb down from the table, her mother would have had a fit if she knew, now she will only freak out when she notices that she is gone.

Soon all of them were standing in front of the gods, heroes and they other guests looking at everyone to make sure that those who were planed to be here are all present. Meanwhile was everyone also looking at them in return, knowing that even thought they were legacies they inherited strong powers from they demigod parents which was not usual. It also made them curious to know which of them was a grandniece to the Fates and how she was different from the others.

"Could you children please introduce yourselves to us so that we can start?" Athena asked, she knew that reading ten books with all the present people here would take a while and she wanted to start as soon as possible. Then there was also the feeling of familiarity with two of the children, but she was bothered by the boy's eye colour.

"Yes, though some of us will not state both of they Godly Ancestors names because we don't wasn't to spoil all the fun for some." stated the brown haired girl and Frank wanted to groan when her eyes landed on him for a few seconds, he could freak out later about the fact that there is a high chance that one of them is his kid.

"Should we leave the parents also out?" asked the black haired girl with the gray eyes as she looked at the others.

"No, it will be fine, you two should only leave out your dad's Godly Parent." said the last girl who was caught by the shadows. She had pale skin, waist long black hair with two blonde strains framing her angular face, but it were her eyes which made everyone look at her. They seemed to be a mix of black, blue and gold, but some of the gods who have sat the closest to the place where she landed could have sworn that they were black when she fell.

"Ok, then we go first." said the blonde boy with sea-green eyes as she stepped forth with the black haired girl at his side indicating that they were siblings. "I'm Luke Jackson." the Greek demigods looked curiously at the name.

"And I'm Sally Jackson named after my grandmum, our parents are Perseus Jackson and Annabeth Chase, so we are a Legacy of Athena and you will soon figure out who our granddad is." finished Sally while Athena narrowed her eyes, she had a feeling that she will not be pleased when finding out who the other god was. Annabeth on the other hand was blushing while her friends snickered, Malcolm was mortified by the thought of his sister with a guy, this was not a thing a little brother wanted to imagine, meanwhile was Perseus feeling awkward to know that someone was named after him so far in the future, if those strange clothes were and indication.

"Nathan Grace" at this Jason glumped while Zeus looked interested to hear about his other grandson "son of Jason Grace and Reyna Vermont" Reyna was to busy blushing with Jason to react to her family name which she had thrown away a long time ago. "Praetor of the Twelfth Legion, Legacy of Jupiter and Bellona." finished the blonde who had fallen on the floor before making place for a boy who looked to be partly of Hispanic descent, he had short brown hair and muscled arms, but there was a hint of mischievousness in his dark brown eyes.

"Ace Rodriguez" this shut Chris up in his teasing and he felt slightly freaked out by the small grin his son was giving him before stating his parents "son of Chris Rodriguez and Clarisse La Rue" fine he was not freaked out anymore, now he wanted to faint "Legacy of Hermes and Ares." he finished.

"YOU PUNK MARRY MY DAUGHTER!" Ares yelled furiously as he jumped up from his throne, Hermes was only gapping at his future son and grandson.

"YOU MARRY HER?!" the Stoll brothers screamed at they half-brother ready to demand from Will or Apollo himself what type of head injury he received… or to find out who used love arrows on him.

"You are going to marry Ares's daughter?" Hermes asked finally looking still dazed.

"You know, this is kind of similar asto how grandfather found out that my parents are dating, though by that time got my uncles and aunts in camp already over the shock." Ace said grinning while said grandfather was forced back into his throne by his father and uncles and his parents did everything to not look at each other. "The whole camp heard him scream Grandfather Hermes's name and then proceeded to hunt after him with his bike, armed with a few spears because he could not hurt dad with mom standing between them, so he went for another target. Granddad Hermes had forgotten to wear his shoes on that day." at this Hermes groaned while everyone who got over the shock only shook they head at they family.

"Well, if our cousin is now done is it our turn." said the boy who had not long ago made that comment about concentrating the next time on his landing instead on the falling part. "Lance Stoll, son of Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner" at this Travis pumped his fist in the air before realizing that his son was standing only a few feet away from him, Katie only stared in disbelief while Connor went to teas his brother "Legacy of Hermes and Demeter. Hay granny Dem." Hades smirked when he saw Demeter pale at the thought that she might have a prankster in her domain if it is true what the _"being family" _comment implies.

"Nice going cousin, she looks freaked out even before you re-decorated her wheat fields." said the girl with violet eyes and Demeter paled further while Hades looked even more pleased, he might start liking the kid already even before he gets born. "I'm Misty Stoll" this made Connor shut up and be happy that they had no more girls present in they group so this will be only half awkward for him" daughter of Connor Stoll and Lou Ellen Hall" ok, he had no clue who she was so this will be fine "Legacy of Hermes and Hecate." she finished.

"A minor goddess?" Zeus asked stunned when he noticed a flash of anger rush over the faces of the children sent by the Fates.

"Yes, though hopefully by the end of the reading you will understand that even those you see as minor gods and goddesses deserve the same respect as you all do." she said while looking Zeus in the eyes, but before the god could give a retort about being disrespected by a demigod stepped another Hispanic looking boy up.

"Well, I will be the only one not giving my parents an early heart attack seeing how they are not here. I'm Michael Valdez, son of Leo Valdez and Piper McLean, Legacy of Hephaestus and Aphrodite." he finished grinning now that the danger was gone. _'En would have not tolerated Zeus trying to blast Misty and it would be kind of awkward to ask one of her grandparents or mum to hold her for a while till she recovers.' _he thought.

"Well…that is kind of ironic." Apollo stated while looking over at his brother and sister-in-law who were glancing at each other unsurely. This was the first time that they heard that they demigod children got together.

"It is now our turn, though I don't know if this got clear for you all from the letter, but in the future you king of try accepting the demigod children of your partners, though they didn't have anymore since a while, well my granddad actually since around eighty or so years in our time and even before that was the number incredibly minimal." said the boy who had controlled the earth while looking at the three queens who nodded slowly in understanding. "I'm Henry Zhang." Frank blushed while already knowing that he will still need to wait to find out who his godly parent was, though he still had his bets on Apollo, but was a bit discouraged while looking at the god, his son and then to Octavian. "Praetor of the Twelfth Legion and I'm the son of Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque, sorry dad, but you will have to wait till the seventh book to know who it is" Frank groaned at this "I'm a Legacy of Pluto the Roman counterpart of Hades." Hades flinched and Demeter was about to start yelling at him, but surprisingly Persephone hugged her husband.

"It is fine, if I can accept them in them in the future then I can try doing it now, though I still want to know how many demigod children my husband had in both his forms before stopping." she said, it hurt that he went to other women, but a part of her could understand that he felt lonely and with all the workload he always had and her not being there for him.

"Kore…"

"Mother, I want to hear and my name is Persephone." she said, in the past did she not care what she was called by others, but when Hades spoke her name the first time after he abducted her as he tried to calm her fears, she knew that she didn't want to be called anything else then the name which he had used for her. Though it still took some time to fall in love with him, anyone would with Zeus as they father who could not keep away from all sorts of affairs.

"Well counting all of them together till he stopped were it so around seven." Henry replied honestly while looking to the last girl who also shook her head, she also only knew about those.

"That is fine by me." she said surprising her mother, husband, Hera and Amphitrite. The two queens were not so sure if they could get so easily over with being cheated on, but compared to the number of demigod children Hades had… they husbands had already more then him and according to his grandson he had no more affairs going on. Triton meanwhile stared at the Jackson siblings, somehow he felt a strange feeling inside his stomach while looking at them, mostly by the boy's eyes and the girl's features. It was slightly similar to that what he felt in the case of his two half-si…uh…looks as if he now knows who the other grandparent is and he had really no clue how to feel about that with him seeing Athena as an adopted daughter, and those two being the children of his half-brother and his in a way adopted granddaughter. Ok, they family tree needs to be ignored, it is already worse then a labyrinth and Atlantis knows how tangled it will be in the future.

"Knew that you would be the first to understand grandma Pers." Henry said smiling while Persephone blushed, but still smiled back at her grandson, making Hades relax even more, he hated it when his wife was upset.

"Now is it my turn." said the last girl from who they all figured was the one about whom they were the most curious of. "First of all should I make the fact clear that it is not easy to categorize me seeing that I have three parents whom had all given a part of themselves to create me." at this stared everyone confused at the girl.

"How can one have three parents and be blood related to all of them?" Theseus asked bewildered, but before the girl could answer Hephaestus looked up with wide eyes.

"You were created like the first humans from clay and water." he said while all gods stared at her with wide eyes.

"It was eons ago that someone created life that way." Zeus said while looking at her carefully remembering what failure the humans were he had made.

"True, but this was suggested to my parents by great-grandmother Nyx herself and it were my grandaunts who actually cleared it up that my dad is one of the few souls to whom two lovers belong and really, some of you would have had a heart attack if one of your male demigod children would have ended up pregnant." everyone nodded slowly knowing that if the Fates said that, then this was the case, though with the fact that she called Lady Nyx her great-grandmother this meant that at least one of her parents was a demigod of one of her children, the problem was to know which. They really should keep tab on the children of the minor gods and goddesses as for the male part they didn't comment. "All three of my parents gave me some of they power and my father and one of my mothers combined they powers to fully awaken me, this is why my eye colour changes regarding which powers I use from which parent."

"I think now they all know why she goes as last." Lance whispered to Michael who nodded grinning.

"And they don't even know who her parents are, yet." he replied back, taking out the ladybug like automaton camera from his jeans pocket. Those photos will be priceless about they expressions.

"Now that we are done with that explanation I can finally introduce myself. I'm Enysswe di Angelo, daughter of Nico di Angelo, Clovis Lauren and Will Solace" this made Will let out a strange sound as his face slowly become just as red as his father's sacred cows, Apollo looked at his granddaughter with interest, she kind of reminded him on someone, while Octavian bit his lower lip in annoyance. "I'm a Legacy of Hades, Hypnos and Apollo." she finished and Michael let the bug go, it had a dual photo and video camera installation so it made photos while taping everything at the same time.

"Yo…you are whose legacy?" yelled a shocked Hades as he was now faced with a second grandchild while most people now could note that most of her features, the high cheekbones and nose were pretty similar to those of Hades. This might be also the ground why no one noticed the deep blush which had graced Apollo's cheeks, no one knew that he had a crush on his uncle about which he still hoped that it would one day go away.

"I get a granddaughter?" Persephone asked much to Demeter's annoyance and to the envy of both Hera and Amphitrite who wished again that they could so fast get over the whole children with mortals thing.

"Yes, you do and now we should get over to the books." Enysswe said smiling as the gods shrunk down to human size and let a few comfortable seats appear while Henry took out a book from the bag he had with him.

"Who will start reading first?" he asked while looking over the group they had gathered, he hoped that things would really turn out for the best, '_mostly after the shock dies down fully'_ he thought.

"Dad wants to start!" yelled little Perses happily from his mother's lap who tried not to giggle at the expression on her husband's face, his brother and cousins were of course not that considerate and were in the middle of a laughing fit.

"Fine." Perseus said sighing while accepting the book and raising an eyebrow at the title. _**"Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief"**_ " he read before looking over at the future demigods who had helped bringing them here, namely a certain sibling duo. "I thought you said your father's name was also Perseus?"

"It is, but dad kind of thinks that it sounds embarrassing so he always goes by Percy, he is only called Perseus when he is in trouble or forced to do a full introduction with name, parentage and all his titles, which by the way can take a while till he finishes with the list." Luke said while Perseus blushed, mumbling something about his name not being embarrassing while the others either laughed or were like some of the future demigods wondering how much titles this Percy had earned himself, mostly Annabeth as she looked at her future children, this was still a strange thought.

"Continue reading Perseus." Hera said and was pleased with herself that it had sounded polite and no harsh like a demand.

"Of course Lady Hera." Perseus said a little shocked by her tone while Zeus was staring at his wife.

_**I accidentally vaporize my pre-algebra teacher**_

_To be continued…_


	2. She is still miffed

A/N: so, here is the second chapter, hope that you will like it…

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II. She is still miffed

While the people of the past were confused were the demigods of the future laughing in amusement at the title, which is most of them.

"I think most of us had wished for something like that to happen." laughed Travis while Katie wondered how she ended up marrying that guy, but they son was a clear prof that she did. The thought of being a married mother still shocked her, thought she knew that she was not the only one. They all were feeling somewhat of a relief that they will make it to become adults with a family, something not all demigods manage to have.

"She is still mad about that one." Enysswe whispered to Henry who nodded to his cousin remembering all the rants they needed to hear while on they math and law classes. The drawback for being related to the king of the Underworld is that he has a large variety of teachers to pick out for his children and grandchildren.

"Continue Perseus." Lance said to the man who nodded.

"Nath, now." Misty whispered to Nathan who carefully moved the fingers on his right hand while the girl chanted a spell in her head which made the air vibrate in such a slight way that not even Zeus himself would notice.

This was also part of the plan with which the Fates have come up with, with the spell and air vibration would the reading of the books be more clearer, namely when someone was reading would the sound wave be carried outside. They hoped that when the minor gods, goddesses and magical creatures who lived up here would hear these stories and that there is a child from the Big Three himself who cares for all living beings. Hear about the fate of they future children and that there is a chance for a better future for them, that then Kronos would never gain supporters to help him raise. Luckily was her spell blocking out most sounds from the outside till she takes it down, but they will wait for that till the last chapters of the fifth book.

_**Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood.**_

"So true." said all demigods and legacies from the future, they expressions grim.

"Is it rallying that bad?" Athena asked as she looked worriedly at her two children.

"With all those monsters hunting after you?" Malcolm said as he remembered the first monster he saw, a Cyclops, the only ground why it hadn't found him was because his smell had been at that time still faint and his father had lead him inside the Antiquity Store and it had unknown to them saved him from death.

"Or mortal parents who either see you as a burden, are scared from you or blame you for being left by you all." Annabeth said bitterly as she remembered how her own father had seen her as a type of burden which was forced on him.

"The same goes for us also, strangely seems our scent similar in strength to that of a half-blood and thus monsters, mostly the rough ones are constantly after us for revenge." Misty said sadly, having stronger powers then most legacies was fun, but also dangerous.

"Well, try our case, dad seriously needs a new hobby which doesn't involve getting every creature or god he meets angry enough to try killing him." Luke said groaning while the gods exchanged unbelieving glances, hoping that the boy doesn't belong to them.

"You try then living in the Underworld, grandfather; dad and aunt Hazel are always busy trying to calm the monsters." Enysswe said in annoyance.

"Uhm…thanks En." Sally said.

"Can I continue now?" Perseus asked, this was till now only one sentence.

"Yes." Henry said.

"Yay, my dad can read." Perses cheered at which a good number of people broke out laughing while Perseus raised his voice to drown them out, his face red as a tomato.

_**If you're reading this because you think you might be one, my advice is:**_

"Oh no!" yelled all the future legacies in panic.

"What is it?" Hermes asked curiously.

"Uncle Percy's advices are just as bad as his plans." Ace said remembering all the warnings he had gotten from his parents when he was little, if his uncle had a plan then if would fail, if it was a stupid plan you have a chance to survive it.

"So just like by Theseus." Orion said while trying to look innocently at his brother.

"Love you to." Theseus replied glaring while they father smiled at his boys much to Triton's annoyance. His father tended to pay more attention to everything then his heir, was it really this hard to be proud of him?

_**close this book right now.**_

"Told you." the nine chorused.

_**Believe whatever lie your mom or dad told you about your birth, and try to lead a normal life.**_

"As if…" Travis stated saying.

"…that would ever happen." finished Connor for his brother.

"I love my kids." Hermes whispered to Apollo who finally managed to get rid of his blush.

_**Being a half-blood is dangerous.**_

Many nods could be seen.

_**It's scary.**_

Again nods at which the gods exchanged guilty glances and Andromeda rested her head on her husband's shoulder as support.

_**Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways.**_

"In other words the usual." Orion said trying to lighten the mood, but then his eyes accidentally caught those of Artemis and he turned immediately away before her twin could notice.

_**If you're a normal kid, reading this because you think it's fiction,**_

"What is that?" Apollo, Hermes and Perses asked together making some people smile at the little boy while Artemis rolled her eyes at her brother, though secretly was she also curious.

"A fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary and theoretical—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical, cinematic, or musical work. Fiction contrasts with non-fiction, which deals exclusively with factual or, at least, assumed factual events, descriptions, observations, biographies, histories." Annabeth explained hurriedly, but only a few truly knew what she meant.

"In short a story that is half true or fully made up by someone." translated Will helpfully to the people of the past who were now all nodding in understanding.

_**great. Read on. I envy you for being able to believe that none of this ever happened.**_

"He is slightly pessimistic." Hera pointed out.

"That is our dad for you." Sally said smiling at the queen who was surprised to say at least then usually tended the demigods to have the same dislike for her as she had for them.

_**But if you recognize yourself in these pages—if you feel something stirring inside—stop reading immediately. You might be one of us. And once you know that, it's only a matter of time before they sense it too, and they'll come for you.**_

All demigods and legacies nodded gravely at this, when a demigod realizes what they are they scents immediately turns stronger making it even easier for the monsters to find them.

_**Don't say I didn't warn you.**_

"You dint warn us." Apollo and Hermes said together grinning.

"Idiots." Artemis muttered at the duo.

_**My name is Percy Jackson.**_

_**I'm twelve years old. Until a few months ago, I was a boarding student at Yancy Academy, a private school for troubled kids in upstate New York.**_

No one of the past asked what that was.

_**Am I a troubled kid?**_

"Yes!" the nine kids chorused while Annabeth raised an eyebrow at the thought of reading her future husbands thoughts.

_**Yeah. You could say that.**_

_**I could start at any point in my short miserable life to prove it, but things really started going bad last May, when our sixth-grade class took a field trip to Manhattan— twenty-eight mentalcase kids and two teachers on a yellow school bus, heading to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at ancient Greek and Roman stuff.**_

"Ancient!" yelled most of the gods with the past heroes while the Roman demigods looked up at the mention of a Roman exhibition.

"Well, seeing that it is a good deal in the future should we not be that surprised." Amphitrite said speaking for the first time, if her niece could deal with it and even Hera was trying, then she should also try attempting to deal with the situation, maybe it would turn out for the better.

_**I know—it sounds like torture.**_

"It does not." Athena snapped with Annabeth and Malcolm.

"Those two are certainly yours." Poseidon stated which earned him a glare from the goddess.

"Hold your tongue Fish Brain." she growled.

"Try me Owl Head." he shoot back.

"Perseus continue before this goes on for the upcoming three hours." Zeus told his son while the kids sent by the Fates grinned, some things would never change.

_**Most Yancy field trips were.**_

_**But Mr. Brunner, our Latin teacher, was leading this trip, so I had hopes.**_

All those who knew Chiron's field name perked up at this while the others were confused why some of the children sat up straighter.

_**Mr. Brunner was this middle-aged guy in a motorized wheelchair.**_

"A wha…" Ares clapped his hand over Hermes's mouth.

"Don't you dare to get that girl start ranting again about something only Miss-Know-It-All will understand somewhat and you are still in for your brat getting near my daughter." Ares growled to his half-brother who glumped.

_**He had thinning hair and a scruffy beard and a frayed tweed jacket, which always smelled like coffee. You wouldn't think he'd be cool, but he told stories and jokes and let us play games in class. He also had this awesome collection of Roman armor and weapons, so he was the only teacher whose class didn't put me to sleep.**_

"Hmm…"

"What is it Hercules?" Theseus asked his cousin who looked deep in thought.

"Doesn't this man sound familiar to you?" Hercules asked the other who after exchanging glances with his brother nodded, looking over at the last member of they group could they see the familiar frown on Perseus's face.

"That sounds like a good teacher." Jason whispered to his comrades who nodded, even Octavian did it, but reluctantly.

_**I hoped the trip would be okay. At least, I hoped that for once I wouldn't get in trouble.**_

_**Boy, was I wrong.**_

"Well, you kind of jinxed it so no surprise there." Frank said while the others nodded, the Romans still felt slightly uneasy surrounded by so many Greeks, but still, if they children could get along in the future then this meant that they might also be closer one day so why not try getting along.

"You are absolutely right with that." Chris replied with a grin which Frank returned, yes they might manage.

_**See, bad things happen to me on field trips.**_

"Only on field trips?" those who knew Percy Jackson asked.

_**Like at my fifth-grade school, when we went to the Saratoga battlefield, I had this accident with a Revolutionary War cannon.**__** I wasn't aiming for the school bus, but of course I got expelled anyway.**_

"Excuse me!" Annabeth and Malcolm stated indignantly while some of the other teens broke out laughing.

"Not bad." Clarisse said, on those school trips she had been forced to go were they never around weapons.

"And this is why we love your dad." Michael said laughing with his friends and even Apollo and Hermes tried to stay in they thrones.

"That really sounds like a fun guy." Dakota said grinning.

"I wonder what he was aiming for if not the bus." Reyna wondered, she was still annoyed because she knew that this man and the blonde girl sitting with them in the throne room had destroyed her home, but she didn't want to go for revenge in front of the gods and her son, this word made her blush, got along with them so she will need to wait and see if they get some answers.

_**And before that, at my fourth-grade school, when we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the Marine World shark pool, I sort of hit the wrong lever on the catwalk and our class took an unplanned swim.**_

Again many bust out laughing as they imagined how everyone's faces must have looked when they found themselves inside the water tank.

"I love this story." Lance laughed, uncle Percy was always great with making people laugh.

"And before you get worried it was right after feeding time so the only thing that happened was that the sharks were confused why there are so many people swimming in they tank and making noises." Luke explained when noticing the look on his mother's face.

"At least got no one hurt." Hestia said relieved.

"This kid is pretty interesting." Dakota said laughing as Jason nodded beside him furiously, he would not mind meeting this guy.

_**And the time before that... Well, you get the idea.**_

"No, we want to hear more!" whined Apollo, Hermes, the Stolls, Chris, Dakota, Frank and Jason the past heroes saw the looks they were receiving and thought better about it to comment and Andromeda was already scolding her son.

"Quit it guys." Katie snapped as she hit both Stolls while Clarisse glared at Chris who immediately shut up at this, but glared at his son who was snickering at him.

Meanwhile had Reyna stopped her fellow praetor and centurions from making themselves look like idiots while Artemis took care about her brothers. When it was quiet again started Perseus to read, though he had no hopes for finishing the chapter in this century.

_**This trip, I was determined to be good.**_

"Wish you luck for that one." all those who had ever decided this by a field trip mumbled.

_**All the way into the city, I put up with Nancy Bobofit, the freckly, redheaded kleptomaniac girl, hitting my best friend Grover in the back of the head with chunks of peanut butter-andketchup sandwich.**_

All demigods from Camp Half-Blood started growling and glared at the book with venom in they eyes.

"Uh…I take that you know this Grover guy?" Orion asked unsurely.

"Yes, he is one of the satyrs at camp and a really good friend of us." Annabeth said when there was a strange sound.

"A faun, you use those useless creatures, Greeks are truly _meow…_" Octavian immediately covered his mouth with both of his hands, looking mortified as everyone was staring at him in confusion, except nine people who were laughing.

"Octavian…was that a cat?" Jason asked the blonde who glared at him before turning his murderous gaze to those who were laughing.

"You were warned to choose your words wisely, though we had no clue that this would happen." Nathan laughed.

"You mean that he will be meowing as a cat whenever he is trying to say something bad about the Greek?" Reyna asked blinking.

"Take that immediately down you _oink._" this time everyone broke out laughing.

"I would say more like sounding like a bunch of animals." Misty said giggling while her grandfather fell out of his throne.

"Never knew that the Fates had such a great sense of humour." Apollo said while wiping away a few teardrops from the corner of his eyes.

_**Grover was an easy target. He was scrawny.**_

_**He cried when he got frustrated. He must've been held back several grades, because he was the only sixth grader with acne and the start of a wispy beard on his chin. On top of all that, he was crippled. He had a note excusing him from PE for the rest of his life because he had some kind of muscular disease in his legs.**_

"Chiron did a good job on the cover story." Chris said nodding in approval while the Romans were still confused asto what use the fauns had.

_**He walked funny, like every step hurt him, but don't let that fool you. You should've seen him run when it was enchilada day in the cafeteria.**_

"Grover!" the Greek demigods groaned.

"Knew it, _squeak."_

"Octavian, was that now a mouse or a rat?" Dakota asked innocently while the blonde glowered at him.

_**Anyway, Nancy Bobofit was throwing wads of sandwich that stuck in his curly brown hair, and she knew I couldn't do anything back to her because I was already on probation. The headmaster had threatened me with death by in-school suspension if anything bad, embarrassing, or even mildly entertaining happened on this trip.**_

_**"I'm going to kill her," I mumbled.**_

"Go for it kid, maybe then we get some action going on here." Ares stated, he was getting bored here.

_**Grover tried to calm me down. "It's okay. I like peanut butter."**_

_**He dodged another piece of Nancy's lunch.**_

_**"That's it." I started to get up, but Grover pulled me back to my seat.**_

_**"You're already on probation," he reminded me. "You know who'll get blamed if anything**_ _**happens."**_

"Nice try uncle Grover, but you should have learned that dad seems to be running around with a neon light above his head saying _'Here I'm come and get me'_." Sally said smiling which made some people flinch.

_**Looking back on it, I wish I'd decked Nancy Bobofit right then and there. In-school suspension would've been nothing compared to the mess I was about to get myself into.**_

At this exchanged everyone worried looks while some only shook they heads.

_**Mr. Brunner led the museum tour.**_

_**He rode up front in his wheelchair, guiding us through the big echoey galleries, past marble statues and glass cases full of really old black-and-orange pottery.**_

_**It blew my mind that this stuff had survived for two thousand, three thousand years.**_

"At least is he appreciating them." Athena said not noticing how her grandchildren leaned together.

"This will only hold till a couple more sentences." Sally whispered to her brother who nodded.

"She will definitely not react positive and neither will grandma Amphitrite or uncle Triton." Luke whispered back, there were still some tense situations between they dad and his older brother. Amphitrite was mostly fine with them because she figured out that they dad was literally the best punishment for they grandfather with his knack for getting into trouble.

_**He gathered us around a thirteen-foot-tall stone column with a big sphinx on the top, and started telling us how it was a grave marker, a stele, for a girl about our age. He told us about the carvings on the sides. I was trying to listen to what he had to say, because it was kind of interesting, but everybody around me was talking, and every time I told them to shut up, the other teacher chaperone, Mrs. Dodds, would give me the evil eye.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds was this little math teacher from Georgia who always wore a black leather jacket, even though she was fifty years old. She looked mean enough to ride a Harley right into your locker. She had come to Yancy halfway through the year, when our last math teacher had a nervous breakdown.**_

The legacies of the future turned to they two cousins from the Underworld with raised eyebrows.

"You don't want to know." Henry replied and they nodded, turning back to the book.

_**From her first day, Mrs. Dodds loved Nancy Bobofit and figured I was devil spawn.**_

"If that would be the case then she would like him." Henry whispered to his cousin.

"I doubt that Percy is a devil spawn, we know that he doesn't belong to that good-for-nothing-god." Demeter said in annoyance, earning herself a cold glare from Hades, her daughter, adopted grandchildren and Apollo. The later made Artemis and Hermes who were sitting the closest to the Sun God exchange confused glances.

_**She would point her crooked finger at me and say, "Now, honey," real sweet, and I knew I was going to get after-school detention for a month.**_

"Honey!" Hades brought out in shock as he leaned forth in his temporary throne.

"Are you alright brother?" Poseidon asked the blackhead who was still looking wide eyed.

"Honey…" he repeated before leaning back in his seat, one hand on his face. "If I'm right then is that woman no mortal, but Alecto, she always uses this word. It gets annoying after hundred years." he groaned and now was everyone looking shocked.

"Then I think it doesn't help much that she still uses that word." Enysswe said sheepishly.

"Or that she is still wishing to massacre our dad." Luke added in so that only his friends would hear.

_**One time, after she'd made me erase answers out of old math workbooks until midnight,**_

At this all troublemakers shuddered while Hades, Enysswe and Henry rolled they eyes, the first two looking pretty much alike which of course made Apollo feel uncomfortable while his son was looking warily at his future daughter, curious about her father.

"Of course is she creative, she is mostly working in the Fields of Punishment." Hades said and the others nodded uneasily.

_**I told Grover I didn't think Mrs. Dodds was human. He looked at me, real serious, and said, "You're absolutely right."**_

_**Mr. Brunner kept talking about Greek funeral art.**_

_**Finally, Nancy Bobofit snickered something about the naked guy on the stele,**_

"So mature." someone commented.

_**and I turned around and said, "Will you shut up?"**_

_**It came out louder than I meant it to.**_

_**The whole group laughed. Mr. Brunner stopped his story.**_

_**"Mr. Jackson," he said, "did you have a comment?"**_

_**My face was totally red. I said, "No, sir."**_

_**Mr. Brunner pointed to one of the pictures on the stele. "Perhaps you'll tell us what this picture represents?"**_

_**I looked at the carving, and felt a flush of relief, because I actually recognized it. "That's Kronos eating his kids, right?"**_

"Ugh, why that one!" groaned the five siblings and they families looked at them sympathically.

"There are a dozen stele pictures and he picks that one." Hades said and Persephone leaned against her husband to stop his shuddering.

"It was the most disgusting place to live in." Hera said, her face looking slowly the same colour as Triton's skin.

"Agreed, it was dark, a gross combination of warm dampness and with the limited space had we the chance to get to know each other _too _well." Poseidon said in a disgusted tone.

"Perseus, I think you should continue before they throw up." Theseus said hurriedly to his cousin who nodded, they had really no clue that this still weighted so much on some of the gods.

_**"Yes," Mr. Brunner said, obviously not satisfied. "And he did this because ..."**_

_**"Well..." I racked my brain to remember. "Kronos was the king god, and—"**_

Perseus hurried with continuing before the gods could object, but most of them were still busy staring at the oldest five who were still stuck in the memories about they harmful childhood.

_**"God?" Mr. Brunner asked.**_

_**"Titan," I corrected myself. "And ... he didn't trust his kids, who were the gods. So, um, Kronos ate them, right? But his wife hid baby Zeus, and gave Kronos a rock to eat instead.**_

"Uhm… I always wanted to know how one could confuse a baby with a rock?" Hermes and the Stolls asked the same time before grinning at each other, the brothers really liked it that they seemed to share a few things with they dad.

"Well, usually I would say that the person was either blind, dumb or the kid looked like a rock to begin with." Hera said while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Though we know that father was anything, but blind." Poseidon said calmly.

"And he was not an idiot either." continued Hades.

"Which only leaves the fact that my brother and husband looked like a rock when he was a baby." Hera said as she got a high-five from both Hades and Poseidon while Zeus glared at the three of them.

"Oh, so this is the truth behind the story when uncle Jason nearly sent out the whole Twelfth Legion to find Nathan when they played hide-and-seek in a rocky place and he couldn't find him." Michael said laughing, but it soon turned into a yelp when an embarrassed blonde zapped him while Jason looked red as a tomato, his friends laughing except Reyna who only shook her head.

"So, this is inheritable?" asked Connor, but he only got some glares from Zeus, Hercules, Perseus, Jason and Nathan.

"Does that mean that I looked like a rock when I was a baby?" Perses asked his mother who only shook her head, but then she looked thoughtful. "Though, I think you come more after my side of the family." at this Perseus started spluttering at his wife while the others broke out laughing.

"Nice pick little bro." Apollo laughed.

It took everyone five minutes to calm down.

_**And later, when Zeus grew up, he tricked his dad, Kronos, into barfing up his brothers and sisters—"**_

"Ugh…thanks for the reminder." Hera shuddered.

_**"Eeew!" said one of the girls behind me.**_

"Try to be there and then you can comment." Demeter said angrily, those girls had nothing to talk about, it were not them who went through that hell.

_**"—and so there was this big fight between the gods and the Titans," I continued, "and the gods won."**_

"Did he just…" Will was about to say, but En started giggling.

"Don't bother, uncle Percy is a master in this." she said grinning which made her mother blush, it was not all day even for a demigod to meet they daughter and find out that they have her with two other guys and you are one of the mothers.

"Uhum…" was his intelligent reply.

_**Some snickers from the group.**_

"He did get it right so why are they laughing?" Annabeth asked in confusion.

"People tend to be narrow minded." Misty said shrugging.

_**Behind me, Nancy Bobofit mumbled to a friend, "Like we're going to use this in real life. Like it's going to say on our job applications, 'Please explain why Kronos ate his kids.'"**_

"I'm starting to wish that this bimbo would be here." Clarisse growled, she really would love to beat her into a plump.

"We all agree." come it from everyone in the room.

_**"And why, Mr. Jackson," Brunner said, "to paraphrase Miss Bobofit's excellent question, does this matter in real life?"**_

_**"Busted," Grover muttered.**_

_**"Shut up," Nancy hissed, her face even brighter red than her hair.**_

Everyone laughed at this.

_**At least Nancy got packed, too. Mr. Brunner was the only one who ever caught her saying anything wrong. He had radar ears.**_

Those who kenw who he was smirked in amusement, those were more like horse ears then radar ones.

_**I thought about his question, and shrugged. "I don't know, sir."**_

_**"I see." Mr. Brunner looked disappointed. "Well, half credit, Mr. Jackson. Zeus did indeed feed Kronos a mixture of mustard and wine, **_

"Thank you again for that brother." Hades replied sarcastically, that mix was not only adding to the disgustingness of the situation, but also made the five of them smell for a whole of two months like it to!

"You are perfectly welcome brother." Zeus replied missing the sarcasm directed into his direction.

_**which made him disgorge his other five children, who, of course, being immortal gods, had been living and growing up completely undigested in the Titan's stomach. **_

"The worst childhood experience." Demeter said shuddering.

"That is also why your father freaked out when I got pregnant and had my morning sicknesses." Amphitrite explained to Triton who nodded carefully.

* * *

At the same time outside where most of the minor gods and goddesses gathered together with the satyrs, dryads, nymphs and other nature spirits started to look green.

"This would certainly explain why most of them are so moody." said one of the dryads, she would hate it to live in her father's stomach and then to get out like that.

"Now we know why Lady Hera was so dangerous when pregnant." Janus's left head replied while the right one looked ready to throw up.

"Still would like to know why we got a note to listen to the reading of some books." another god said and many nodded.

"This is because these books could have valuable information for us." snapped Hecate at them all. "If these books were sent by the Fates themselves with a chance to change the future, something we all know is not allowed, then we should hear all of them till the end, we don't need to do anything else, those inside the palace are reading so sit down and listen." she finished and noted with satisfaction that everyone had quitted down and were not again paying attention.

* * *

_**The gods defeated their father, sliced him to pieces with his own scythe, and scattered his remains in Tartarus, the darkest part of the Underworld. On that happy note, it's time for lunch. Mrs. Dodds, would you lead us back outside?"**_

"I fail to see the happy note here." Dakota said in confusion while looking at Gwen who patted him on the back.

"Just ignore it Dakota." she said to her fellow centurion.

"You know that it would be hilarious if Lily could have also come?" Lance whispered to his friends.

"True, but someone needs to divert attention from our disappearance." Henry added while holding back a shudder, yes, his mom come mostly after her mother, but when she got really mad was she pretty much just as scary as granddad Pluto.

"Someone really needs to learn how to change topics." Katie said blinking.

"Yeah, I doubt that those five will want to hear about food anytime soon." Will said while watching his father make the five oldest gods swallow a stomach medicine.

_**The class drifted off, the girls holding their stomachs, the guys pushing each other around and acting like doofuses.**_

_**Grover and I were about to follow when Mr. Brunner said, "Mr. Jackson."**_

_**I knew that was coming.**_

_**I told Grover to keep going. Then I turned toward Mr. Brunner. "Sir?"**_

_**Mr. Brunner had this look that wouldn't let you go— intense brown eyes that could've been a thousand years old and had seen everything.**_

"Yes they have." all those who knew that it was Chiron said together which made those who didn't know confused.

_**"You must learn the answer to my question," Mr. Brunner told me.**_

_**"About the Titans?"**_

_**"About real life. And how your studies apply to it."**_

_**"Oh."**_

_**"What you learn from me," he said, "is vitally important. I expect you to treat it as such. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson."**_

_**I wanted to get angry, this guy pushed me so hard.**_

_**I mean, sure, it was kind of cool on tournament days, when he dressed up in a suit of Roman armor and shouted: "What ho!'" and challenged us, sword-point against chalk, to run to the board and name every Greek and Roman person who had ever lived, and their mother, and what god they worshipped.**_

"That sounds really fun." exclaimed the Roman demigods and even Octavian needed to agree that he would have liked it if his teachers would have done such a thing in one of they classes.

_**But Mr. Brunner expected me to be as good as everybody else, despite the fact that I have dyslexia and attention deficit disorder**_

"So the usual demigod package." Chris said while the others nodded.

"So they now have names for them." Orion noted grinning.

"Seeing that it stands in the book." Artemis said while rolling her eyes so she didn't notice how Orion blushed, but Apollo did and sent the hero a glare.

_**and I had never made above a C— in my life. No—he didn't expect me to be as good; he expected me to be better.**_

_**And I just couldn't learn all those names and facts, much less spell them correctly. I mumbled something about trying harder, while Mr. Brunner took one long sad look at the stele, like he'd been at this girl's funeral.**_

"Something tells me that he has." Gwen said sadly while the future legacies looked over at two of they cousins to see if they knew more.

"She had been one of my aunts." Enysswe whispered sadly so that her grandfather Apollo doesn't her or her mum for that matter, both of them would be incredibly sad mostly that she was sill a little girl at this part in time.

_**He told me to go outside and eat my lunch.**_

_**The class gathered on the front steps of the museum, where we could watch the foot traffic along Fifth Avenue.**_

_**Overhead, a huge storm was brewing, with clouds blacker than I'd ever seen over the city. I figured maybe it was global warming or something, because the weather all across New York state had been weird since Christmas. We'd had massive snow storms, flooding, wildfires from lightning strikes. I wouldn't have been surprised if this was a hurricane blowing in.**_

"Father, about what are you and uncle fighting about?" Triton asked in confusion while everyone who did not know the truth, so nine people exact, were staring confused at Zeus and Poseidon who only exchanged confused glances with each other having no clue what they were again fighting about.

_**Nobody else seemed to notice. Some of the guys were pelting pigeons with Lunchables crackers. Nancy Bobofit was trying to pickpocket something from a lady's purse, and, of course, Mrs. Dodds wasn't seeing a thing.**_

_**Grover and I sat on the edge of the fountain, away from the others. We thought that maybe if we did that, everybody wouldn't know we were from that school—the school for loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere.**_

_**"Detention?" Grover asked.**_

_**"Nah," I said. "Not from Brunner. I just wish he'd lay off me sometimes. I mean—I'm not a genius."**_

_**Grover didn't say anything for a while. Then, when I thought he was going to give me some deep philosophical comment to make me feel better, he said, "Can I have your apple?"**_

There was a round of laughs at the random question.

_**I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it. I watched the stream of cabs going down Fifth Avenue, and thought about my mom's apartment, only a little ways uptown from where we sat. I hadn't seen her since Christmas. I wanted so bad to jump in a taxi and head home.**_

The girls and women cooed at this while the boys rolled they eyes at them.

"See, this is how a mother-child relationship should look like." Hera said while looking at her two sons who were doing they best to ignore they mother which annoyed her, Triton on the other hand was also trying to look everywhere then in his mother's direction and Persephone pulled closer to her husband. She will not deal with her mother's usual rants regards her pick in the case of a lover.

"I like spending time with mom." Perses said happily to his mother.

"Good child." Hera huffed in annoyance when she suddenly heard a telepathic voice in her head which made her turn in the direction of her grandniece/step granddaughter. _'Sorry for startling you Lady Hera, though you will not manage to have a perfect family without trying to correct past mistakes.' _she heard the melodious voice speak in her head. _**'What do you mean child?'**_ Hera asked back. _'I'm not sure about uncle Ares at this point, he might need time, but you may have at the current moment better chances if you talk things out with you second son, it might help if a hurt doesn't get carried on for to long.' _and with that Hera felt the girl withdrawing from her mind and looking at the queen with a small smile she saw on occasions on her brother's face. She needed to give her right, Ares was a complicated case to handle, but maybe she could make amends with her other son whom she treated wrongly.

Hephaestus was waiting for his half-brother to continue reading the book when he suddenly felt the presence of his mother enter his mind. He had half a thought to ignore her like he tended to do, but usually when one speaks telepathically one also transfers a glimpse about they strongest emotion at the time of entering and the feeling he got from his mother was guilt and a slight fear. _**'What do you wish mother?' **_he asked curiously. _'Can we please talk with each other when we take a break?' _she asked and the god found himself nodding, although reluctantly because his mother never wanted to just talk, she only ranted about a perfect family or how her husband was cheating on her.

_**She'd hug me and be glad to see me, but she'd be disappointed, too. She'd send me right back to Yancy, remind me that I had to try harder, even if this was my sixth school in six years and I was probably going to be kicked out again. I wouldn't be able to stand that sad look she'd give me.**_

"I think you made a good pick Annabeth." Katie whispered to Annabeth who looked over at her two children who when noticing they young mother smiled back at her nodding which relived her that at least he was a kind guy.

_**Mr. Brunner parked his wheelchair at the base of the handicapped ramp. He ate celery while he read a paperback novel. A red umbrella stuck up from the back of his chair, making it look like a motorized cafe table.**_

_**I was about to unwrap my sandwich when Nancy Bobofit appeared in front of me with her ugly friends—I guess she'd gotten tired of stealing from the tourists—and dumped her half-eaten lunch in Grover's lap.**_

There were again many grwols from those who knew Grover.

_**"Oops." She grinned at me with her crooked teeth. Her freckles were orange, as if somebody had spray-painted her face with liquid Cheetos.**_

The confused looks were waved away, indicating that it was not important and that they should continue.

_**I tried to stay cool. The school counselor had told me a million times, "Count to ten, get control of your temper."**_

"That's useless." said Clarisse and Ace at the same time before looking at each other, Clarisse had ignored the fact that one of those kids was hers since the introduction, but now she needed to notice the fact.

_**But I was so mad my mind went blank. A wave roared in my ears.**_

At this Poseidon, Athena, Theseus and Orion all sat up straighter, they eyes wide while Triton looked at the two children who nodded to him, confirming his suspicions. Not the way one imagines meeting his nephew and niece, but in this family can no one complain.

_**I don't remember touching her, but the next thing I knew, Nancy was sitting on her butt in the fountain, screaming, "Percy pushed me!"**_

_**Mrs. Dodds materialized next to us.**_

_**Some of the kids were whispering: "Did you see—"**_

Perseus suddenly stopped in his reading and looked with wide eyes and Theseus and Orion before continuing, this will lead to a bunch of screaming so he signalled to Andromeda to cover they son's ears.

_**"—the water—"**_

_**"—like it grabbed her—"**_

"Poseidon!" screamed Amphitrite in anger as she glared at her husband.

"Percy is our brother?" Theseus and Orion asked at the same time.

"No! My daughter will not marry a Sea Spawn!" Athena yelled while Annabeth paled, Malcolm winched while the others tried to ignore the arguing around them.

"Grandmother Amphitrite, if it helps in the future you like our dad because he is your perfect revenge on granddad, because dad had a knack to make others want to kill him." Sally intervened earning herself a groan from her grandfather and a frown from her step-grandmother, but at least was the martial fight done. "Also grandmother Athena, I think at the end of the last book you will realize how much dad cares about our mom." Athena only huffed, but didn't say anything more.

Perseus took this as his cue to start reading before a new argument breaks out.

_**I didn't know what they were talking about. All I knew was that I was in trouble again. As soon as Mrs. Dodds was sure poor little Nancy was okay, promising to get her a new shirt at the museum gift shop, etc., etc., Mrs. Dodds turned on me. There was a triumphant fire in her eyes, as if I'd done something she'd been waiting for all semester.**_

"Oh, she certainly did." Hades drawled while Poseidon glared at him.

"Don't you dare Hades and why exactly are you after my son? Is it not usually Hera or Zeus who hunt after our kids?" Poseidon asked.

"You will soon know why." Misty said bitterly, her poor granddad Hermes, he will hate most of the happenings in these books when he finds out that one of his children would become the key to the raise of a monster.

_**"Now, honey—"**_

_**"I know," I grumbled. "A month erasing workbooks."**_

"Wrong thing to say." chorused all the troublemakers.

_**That wasn't the right thing to say.**_

"You don't say uncle Perce." Lance said while rolling his eyes.

_**"Come with me," Mrs. Dodds said.**_

_**"Wait!" Grover yelped. "It was me. I pushed her."**_

_**I stared at him, stunned. I couldn't believe he was trying to cover for me. Mrs. Dodds scared Grover to death.**_

_**She glared at him so hard his whiskery chin trembled.**_

_**"I don't think so, Mr. Underwood," she said.**_

_**"But—"**_

_**"You—will—stay—here."**_

_**Grover looked at me desperately.**_

Tension was slowly building inside the room and also outside by the minor divinities who all had a funny feeling in they stomachs.

_**"It's okay, man," I told him. "Thanks for trying."**_

_**"Honey," Mrs. Dodds barked at me. "Now."**_

_**Nancy Bobofit smirked.**_

_**I gave her my deluxe I'll-kill-you-later stare. Then I turned to face Mrs. Dodds, but she wasn't there. She was standing at the museum entrance, way at the top of the steps, gesturing impatiently at me to come on.**_

_**How'd she get there so fast?**_

"Well, she is kind of your uncle's co-worker." Connor said.

_**I have moments like that a lot, when my brain falls asleep or something, and the next thing I know I've missed something, as if a puzzle piece fell out of the universe and left me staring at the blank place behind it. The school counselor told me this was part of the ADHD, my brain misinterpreting things.**_

_**I wasn't so sure.**_

_**I went after Mrs. Dodds.**_

_**Halfway up the steps, I glanced back at Grover. He was looking pale, cutting his eyes between me and Mr. Brunner, like he wanted Mr. Brunner to notice what was going on, but was absorbed in his novel.**_

The tension got worse now that they knew that Percy was alone with a Fury and absolutely no training, but at least they knew that he will be fine seeing that two of his children were sitting here.

_**I looked back up. Mrs. Dodds had disappeared again. She was now inside the building, at the end of the entrance hall.**_

_**Okay, I thought. She's going to make me buy a new shirt for Nancy at the gift shop.**_

_**But apparently that wasn't the plan.**_

_**I followed her deeper into the museum. When I finally caught up to her, we were back in the Greek and Roman section.**_

_**Except for us, the gallery was empty.**_

"It is alright, he will live, someone will save him." Poseidon muttered looking pale.

"I think now I know what you meant." Amphitrite said while smirking at her husband, she might just give this demigod a chance if he should be born this time around in the future.

"And if one imagines that this was one of his calmest experiences." Luke said to his friends while his grandfather let out a strange noise.

"Yes, I may start liking this demigod." at this exchanged both Orion and Theseus a look with each other not sure if they wanted to be liked by they stepmother if it meant that they would give they father constant heart attacks.

"That is a first." Triton said stunned while Athena still looked angry that her daughter would marry her rival's spawn, Triton was not counted in that category, but that was another complicated case.

_**Mrs. Dodds stood with her arms crossed in front of a big marble frieze of the Greek gods. She was making this weird noise in her throat, like growling.**_

_**Even without the noise, I would've been nervous. It's weird being alone with a teacher, especially Mrs. Dodds. Something about the way she looked at the frieze, as if she wanted to pulverize it...**_

No one would have felt surprised if she truly did, most monsters wanted to do just that.

_**"You've been giving us problems, honey," she said.**_

_**I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."**_

_**She tugged on the cuffs of her leather jacket. "Did you really think you would get away with it?"**_

_**The look in her eyes was beyond mad. It was evil.**_

_**She's a teacher, I thought nervously. It's not like she's going to hurt me.**_

"Normal teacher yes, monster teacher…only if they work for Hades and you happen to be either his kid or grandchild." stated Hephaestus before he noticed something, his wife was strangely to quiet, but looking at his side he spotted her looking intentionally at the children from the future. He knew that look, it was the look she wore when trying to analyze romantic feelings in a person she was gazing at. Great, she was planning to mess around with some love lives, hopefully only by those who don't have a kid present, Aphrodite tended to overdo such things and some of those actions ended badly.

_**I said, "I'll—I'll try harder, ma'am."**_

_**Thunder shook the building.**_

Again were all eyes on Zeus who only shrugged, he could not know why he was doing this in the future.

_**"We are not fools, Percy Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said. "It was only a matter of time before we found you out. Confess, and you will suffer less pain."**_

_**I didn't know what she was talking about.**_

"You and us all mate." replied Connor.

_**All I could think of was that the teachers must've found the illegal stash of candy I'd been selling out of my dorm room.**_

"Wow, uncle P your son is great." Hermes said laughing with Apollo.

"I can't wait till he gets to camp." Travis said as he exchanged a grin with his brothers.

_**Or maybe they'd realized I got my essay on Tom Sawyer from the Internet**_

"Dad's/granddad's work." replied Travis, Connor, Chris, Lance, Misty and Ace proudly which made Hermes beam.

"I'm the best." Hermes said grinning while Apollo pouted.

"I'm also great." the Sun god muttered when he noticed someone looking at him, looking up was he met with intense dark eyes.

"Apollo, acting somewhat more like your age is more appealing then acting like a little kid." Hades said to his nephew to stop a childish argument from breaking out, but he had already turned away so failed to notice the renewed blush gracing the other man's cheeks, but Artemis did together with Hermes. What was wrong with him?

_**without ever reading the book and now they were going to take away my grade. Or worse, they were going to make me read the book.**_

There was again laughter while Athena, Annabeth and Malcolm looked a bit put out because of the book comment, but didn't comment, though Annabeth looked over to her children.

"Sorry, he didn't read it, but you got him the audio book version." Luke said to his mother who nodded, at least he kind of had read it now.

_**"Well?" she demanded.**_

_**"Ma'am, I don't..."**_

_**"Your time is up," she hissed.**_

_**Then the weirdest thing happened. Her eyes began to glow like barbecue coals.**_

"Nice comparison." Frank said, but covered by the glares he received from the others.

_**Her fingers stretched, turning into talons. Her jacket melted into large, leathery wings. She wasn't human. She was a shriveled hag with bat wings and claws and a mouth full of yellow fangs, and she was about to slice me to ribbons.**_

"Alecto." stated Hades, Persephone, Enysswe and Henry nodding.

_**Then things got even stranger.**_

_**Mr. Brunner, who'd been out in front of the museum a minute before, wheeled his chair into the doorway of the gallery, holding a pen in his hand.**_

"Huh?" asked everyone in confusion.

_**"What ho, Percy!" he shouted, and tossed the pen through the air.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds lunged at me.**_

Poseidon started slowly hyperventilating which made some of the others look worriedly at him while Orion, Theseus and Triton were wondering if they father would be this worried about them.

_**With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. I snatched the ballpoint pen out of the air, but when it hit my hand, it wasn't a pen anymore. It was a sword—Mr. Brunner's bronze sword, which he always used on tournament day.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds spun toward me with a murderous look in her eyes.**_

_**My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.**_

_**She snarled, "Die, honey!"**_

_**And she flew straight at me.**_

_**Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.**_

"Excuse me?" exclaimed mostly everyone inside and outside of the throne room, swinging a sword did not come naturally even to a demigod.

"Yep, that is our dad, a natural born swordfighter." Sally said proudly at her father's skill.

_**The metal blade hit her shoulder and passed clean through her body as if she were made of water. Hisss!**_

Stunned silence regained over everything, did the book just say that a twelve years old demigod who didn't know what he was, had no training had just defeated a Fury? This was something no one of them could ever imagine.

"Not a bad from a beginner." Ares needed to admit with Clarisse nodding along her father.

"That certainly was not bad." Triton said in a stunned tone, his future half-brother certainly sounded different from the others.

"Bested by our own little brother." Theseus said to Orion who could only nod.

_**Mrs. Dodds was a sand castle in a power fan. She exploded into yellow powder, vaporized on the spot, leaving nothing but the smell of sulfur and a dying screech and a chill of evil in the air, as if those two glowing red eyes were still watching me.**_

"Let me guess, Alecto is still angry at him for that." Hades said to his grandchildren.

"She certainly is." Henry replied.

_**I was alone.**_

_**There was a ballpoint pen in my hand.**_

_**Mr. Brunner wasn't there. Nobody was there but me.**_

_**My hands were still trembling. My lunch must've been contaminated with magic mushrooms or something.**_

_**Had I imagined the whole thing?**_

_**I went back outside.**_

_**It had started to rain.**_

"Strange, it seems as if there is a strong wall of mist being pulled up." Annabeth said with Malcolm nodding in agreement.

"Mist?" Hercules asked in confusion.

"A kind of illusion because in the future mortals don't believe in the truth behind myths so helps the mist to hide us from them." Katie explained.

"I see."

_**Grover was sitting by the fountain, a museum map tented over his head. Nancy Bobofit was still standing there, soaked from her swim in the fountain, grumbling to her ugly friends. When she saw me, she said, "I hope Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt."**_

"Who?" asked Poseidon, Triton, Theseus and Orion which made Perseus laugh.

"I can see the family resemblance." he said grinning.

_**I said, "Who?"**_

Now everyone understood and broke out laughing while Poseidon and his sons blushed in embarassment.

_**"Our teacher. Duh!"**_

_**I blinked. We had no teacher named Mrs. Kerr. I asked Nancy what she was talking about.**_

_**She just rolled her eyes and turned away.**_

_**I asked Grover where Mrs. Dodds was.**_

_**He said, "Who?"**_

_**But he paused first, and he wouldn't look at me, so I thought he was messing with me.**_

"Connor, give Grover an appointment at four in the afternoon, Monday. We need to theach that satyr how to lye." Travis said to his brother who wrote up the appointment.

"Leave my satyrs alone." Dionysus snapped making everyone jump, they had forgotten that he was there.

'_At least he cares about fauns.'_ Dakota thought while looking at his father.

_**"Not funny, man," I told him. "This is serious."**_

_**Thunder boomed overhead.**_

_**I saw Mr. Brunner sitting under his red umbrella, reading his book, as if he'd never moved.**_

_**I went over to him.**_

_**He looked up, a little distracted. "Ah, that would be my pen. Please bring your own writing utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson."**_

_**I handed Mr. Brunner his pen. I hadn't even realized I was still holding it.**_

_**"Sir," I said, "where's Mrs. Dodds?"**_

_**He stared at me blankly. "Who?"**_

_**"The other chaperone. Mrs. Dodds. The pre-algebra teacher."**_

_**He frowned and sat forward, looking mildly concerned. "Percy, there is no Mrs. Dodds on this trip. As far as I know, there has never been a Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy. Are you feeling all right?"**_

"At least one of them knows how to lye." Will said to the others who nodded.

"And with his is the chapter finally done." Perseus said as he pushed the book over to Theseus who sat on his other side.

_To be continued…_


	3. They never change

A/N: Due to the large number of reading parties will there be a list of the readers and they parentage (the heroes present beside the gods, future demigods and legacies) to make everything easier. So look at the bottom of the chapter if you are confused about who is who.

* * *

III. They never change

Finishing the first chapter had certainly proven itself as a challenge with all those comments thrown in, but what did one expect in a group that was not known about much patience with things while the other ones were all ADHD. Not that Hestia minded so much, even if there were still some negative feeling going on could he still see that her family was trying to bond together and this made her happy, she missed her brother and the way he had been before things changed.

"Well then, I will start the next chapter." Theseus said enthusiastically, he was curious about his little brother to be honest, but also worried for him and when he saw the title a strange feeling settled in his stomach, but he was not sure why.

_**THREE OLD LADIES KNIT THE SOCKS OF DEATH**_

"Uh…am I he only one who has a strange feeling by this title?" Apollo asked nervously while the others nodded that they also had an uneasy feeling.

"WHAT!" yelled the seven from the farthest future as they whipped they heads to they two cousins, they eyes wide with shock.

"Dad certainly didn't tell us about this one, so why didn't you guy." Luke demanded, he knew who those ladies were and he didn't want them near his father, it was already unnerving that they had fun messing around with his life.

"I'm sure mum has also no clue about this…well her older self." Sally said while glancing at the younger version of her mother.

"It was not our place to tell." Henry said as he turned to Theseus. "Please start reading, we are only by the title." the hero nodded, but he was now even more confused and nervous.

_**I was used to the occasional weird experience, but usually they were over quickly. This twentyfour/ seven hallucination was more than I could handle. For the rest of the school year, the entire campus seemed to be playing some kind of trick on me. The students acted as if they were completely and totally convinced that Mrs. Kerr—a perky blond woman whom I'd never seen in my life until she got on our bus at the end of the field trip—had been our pre-algebra teacher since Christmas.**_

_**Every so often I would spring a Mrs. Dodds reference on somebody, just to see if I could trip them up, but they would stare at me like I was psycho.**_

"No uncle Percy, this is normal occurrence when it comes to you." Ace said grinning with his friends laughing.

"That is reassuring…" Malcolm said while looking at his sister, he will need to hear more if he wants to decide if he and they other siblings should let this guy near Annabeth.

_**It got so I almost believed them—Mrs. Dodds had never existed.**_

" Who wants to bet that it was Grover's fault?" Apollo and Hermes asked at the same time.

"Dad, uncle Apollo even we would not be dumb enough to make a bet about that if it is obvious." Travis said calmly which surprised Katie a bit because he sounded dare she say it… mature?

"Fine." Hermes said as he and Apollo leaned back pouting.

"My dad is acting like a kid." Will whispered to Malcolm who patted him on the back while the Romans looked at the two gods in wonder, since the little while they were here had they view of the gods completely been proven wrong, the scripts never told about the gods joking around or act like little children. It was strange for them and it didn't help that only they seemed to be shocked by they behaviour which suggested that the Greeks had already known that they were actually like this.

_**Almost.**_

_**But Grover couldn't fool me. When I mentioned the name Dodds to him, he would hesitate, then claim she didn't exist. But I knew he was lying.**_

No one was surprised, but Travis, Connor and Chris were still trying to make secretly an appointment for they friend to learn the noble art of lying without Mr. D finding out about it.

_**Something was going on. Something had happened at the museum. I didn't have much time to think about it during the days, but at night, visions of Mrs. Dodds with talons and leathery wings would wake me up in a cold sweat.**_

_**The freak weather continued, which didn't help my mood. One night, a thunderstorm blew out the windows in my dorm room. A few days later, the biggest tornado ever spotted in the Hudson Valley touched down only fifty miles from Yancy Academy. One of the current events we studied in social studies class was the unusual number of small planes that had gone down in sudden squalls in the Atlantic that year.**_

"Wonderful news, more paperwork, traffic jams, complaints and overnighters for everyone." Hades groaned, he felt a headache nearing by the mare thought of telling his already overworked staff that they will have more work to get going. He was truly fortunate that there were no work strikes in the Underworld because his men saw that he was suffering with them and sometimes even more.

"Brother, the poor mortals are not a way to went out your anger." Hestia scolded her youngest sibling with a disapproving look while most of the other gods and legacies glared at him.

"I agree with grandaunt Hestia, have you seen the Underworld after a nature catastrophe made by any of you?" Nathan asked shuddering. "I once visited after such one and believe me it is a wonder that these two and the rest of they family didn't go bonkers already with that chaos going on down there on such days." he finished while pointing with his thumb to Enysswe and Henry who were glaring at Zeus.

"Uh…sorry…?" Zeus asked unsurely while everyone turned away from him huffing and Poseidon gestured to his son to continue.

"Uhm…that was interesting." Dakota whispered to Jason who was staring blinking at his son before turning back to his father.

"Yes, but I agree with them, only because my dad is angry gives him not the right to kill innocent people." Jason whispered back feeling a bit of disappointment in his father for doing such a thing because with that did he not only kill innocent people, but also hurt they families who were stuck wondering why they loved ones needed to die so early.

Zeus had noticed the look on his sons face and heard his grandson's anger, turning to his other demigod children he saw that Hercules was concentrating on the patter on the couch while Perseus was whispering something to his son who looked scared. The guilt he felt only grew stronger, it looked as if he really forgot sometimes how to act when he was angry mostly if mortals will be able in the future to venture into his domain then he needs to stop using them to calm down or it would not be Hades who was the most similar to they father, but Zeus himself. This also reminded him that he would sometime need to try explaining to his oldest brother why they all acted the way around him as they did.

_**I started feeling cranky and irritable most of the time. My grades slipped from Ds to Fs. I **__**got into more fights with Nancy Bobofit and her friends. I was sent out into the hallway in almost every class.**_

_**Finally, when our English teacher, Mr. Nicoll, asked me for the millionth time why I was too lazy to study for spelling tests, I snapped. I called him an old sot. I wasn't even sure what it meant, but it sounded good.**_

Nearly everyone broke out laughing at this while the rest only hid a smile.

"Doest he know now what it means?" Jason asked eagerly, happy that Percy had kind of made his bad mood to lessen.

"Yep, mom told him." Luke said grinning while Annabeth blushed when both her brother and mother were looking at her with raised eyebrows.

_**The headmaster sent my mom a letter the following week, making it official: I would not be invited back next year to Yancy Academy.**_

_**Fine, I told myself. Just fine.**_

_**I was homesick.**_

_**I wanted to be with my mom in our little apartment on the Upper East Side, even if I had to go to public school and put up with my obnoxious stepfather and his stupid poker parties.**_

"Oh great, we will hear about that _thing _before grandmum married granddad Paul." Luke said in a disgusted tone, Sally nodding her face looking angry as did that of they friends.

"Don't worry, he still got a lovely personal punishment from granddad." Enysswe said with an evil glint in her eyes.

"Ooohh, you really need to take us visiting him the next time we go to the Underworld." Sally said to her cousin.

"With pleasure." she replied.

"We take it, you don't like that guy." Frank said as he looked at the angry faces of the kids.

"You can bet on that, we hate that guy." Lance said sternly.

"Even if we had heard like only two or three short sentences about him had we all needed to fight the urge to look his soul up and throw that disgusting embodiment into Tartaros to spend some time with our great-grandfather." Misty spat, her hands balled into fists.

"Theseus, please continue with reading." Reyna said sighing, she had a good feeling that they will be stopping a good number of times if the looks of the future children was anything to go by.

_**And yet... there were things I'd miss at Yancy. The view of the woods out my dorm window, the Hudson River in the distance, the smell of pine trees. I'd miss Grover, who'd been a good friend, even if he was a little strange. I worried how he'd survive next year without me. I'd miss Latin class, too—Mr. Brunner's crazy tournament days and his faith that I could do well.**_

_**As exam week got closer, Latin was the only test I studied for. I hadn't forgotten what Mr. Brunner had told me about this subject being life-and-death for me. I wasn't sure why, but I'd started to believe him.**_

"A wise decision, this will help ensure that you survive." this come surprisingly from Amphitrite, well she had decided to try giving the demigods a chance and well, it kind of felt nice when her grandchildren looked at her beaming.

"I'm glad to hear this my love." Poseidon said while taking his wife's hand and kissing it, both surprising her because it was a few hundred years ago since her husband had called her that with such a soft tone or was this affectionate in his gestures. Maybe was this whole trying to tolerate the demigods really a good idea if it would mean that her husband would act like when he was courting her.

_**The evening before my final, I got so frustrated I threw the Cambridge Guide to Greek Mythology across my dorm room. Words had started swimming off the page, circling my head, the lettersdoing one-eighties as if they were riding skateboards.**_

"We know how you feel." said all demigods and the future legacies shivering while the gods, mostly Athena flinched, they did not really know that it was this bad for they children when it come to reading anything that was not in the language they were hardwired for.

"And dad has it worse because he is grandfather Poseidon's son and the sea is not something you can restrain." Luke said, he come also mostly after his dad's side in abilities so was his dyslexia also worse then Sally's.

_**There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon,**_

"I rally hope for you that this was meant spelling wise and not based on who they are." Hades stated incredulously.

"Oh, don't worry granddad, he will learn the difference first hand near the end of this book." Enysswe said smiling sweetly.

"WHAT!" broke out Poseidon, Theseus, Orion and even Triton, all of them looking pale.

"You will find out if we keep on reading." Ace said while some people exchanged nervous glances with each other.

_**or Polydictes and Polydeuces. And conjugating those Latin verbs? Forget it.**_

"But they are easy to do." Dakota said with Jason nodding beside his friend.

"You are Roman, he is Greek." come it surprisingly from Octavian, his voice making some people jump because they forgot that he was there and seeing that he didn't imitate any type of animal this meant that his comment was not meant as an insult.

"Forgot that." Dakota said blushing before turning fully to the blonde. "It is nice to know that you can give comments that are not insulting those who are also here." he said grinning to the blonde who looked down on at his lap, blonde hair hiding his face.

"Your welcome." he replied while his fellow Romans looked at him with small smiles and with the attention diverted had no one noticed Aphrodite raise a delicate eyebrow when she thought that she felt a kind of spark a few seconds ago.

She certainly needed to keep a good track on all of they visitors feelings and she also needed to figure out from where that other strong feeling come from, she only knew that it was somewhere near the thrones, but nothing more. Ah, sometimes was it so hard to be the Goddess of Love, it was a stressful job to play matchmaker for all of those she come across.

_**I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.**_

"How does he know what that is like?" asked Connor while looking at his older brother.

"Uncle Percy had always weird comparisons." piped in Henry as he shook his head fondly at his uncle.

"Ah, now this on the other hand reminds me of Orion." Theseus said grinning, he liked the fact that he could now get back on his brother for that comment by the last chapter about his plans.

_**I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.**_

_**I took a deep breath. I picked up the mythology book.**_

_**I'd never asked a teacher for help before. Maybe if I talked to Mr. Brunner, he could give me some pointers. At least I could apologize for the big fat F I was about to score on his exam. I didn't want to leave Yancy Academy with him thinking I hadn't tried.**_

Some girls cooed at the sweet thought that he didn't want to disappoint his favourite teacher.

_**I walked downstairs to the faculty offices. Most of them were dark and empty, but Mr. Brunner's door was ajar, light from his window stretching across the hallway floor.**_

_**I was three steps from the door handle when I heard voices inside the office. Mr. Brunner asked a question. A voice that was definitely Grover's said "... worried about Percy, sir."**_

_**I froze.**_

_**I'm not usually an eavesdropper, but I dare you to try not listening if you hear your best friend talking about you to an adult.**_

"He kind of has a point there." Will stated while some people nodded, they would do the same in such a situation.

_**I inched closer.**_

_**"... alone this summer," Grover was saying. "I mean, a Kindly One in the school! Now that we know for sure, and they know too—"**_

"You know, I never understood why we are referring to them as Kindly Ones, there is nothing kind about them." stated Malcolm while looking at the gods.

"There is no actual explanation to it, this is what they wished to be referred to." Hades answered to the boy.

"Also uncle Malcolm there are some kind ones out there, they are only rare." Misty sais as she remembered Tyson who was the uncle of her best friend/cousin, Ella, Briers, Mrs O'Leary and even Alecto could be nice she had seen her be that and had even photo as prof.

"She is right I certainly adore the pet hellhound your dad has. That reminds me En, Hanry, do you think that maybe I could get one of the pups when they are there?" Nathan asked curiously, but before he could answer broke all Hades out fro those of the past.

"YOUR FATHER HAS A PET WHAT!" everyone screamed in sock and panic.

"You will met her in the fourth book and Mrs O'Leary is really nothing, but a huge sweet dog who loves to give sloppy dog kisses to those she really adores." Sally said in the defence of they beloved family pet. "As for the pups, I think if En and Henry also agree then you can ask your parents if they give you permission." she said to Nathan, her brother nodding beside her.

"Seeing that I'm often enough in camp with my parents so we even can help you by dog training so it will be fine." Henry said having a good guess that with Mrs O'Leary having helped to defend the camp would neither of Nathan's parents object.

"Ok, I will ask them when we get back home." the blonde said grinning in excitement.

"Excuse me, but what are you talking about beside the obvious." spoke up Zeus looking completely lost.

"Well you know that Mrs O'Leary is our dad1s pet hellhound and dad is pretty close to uncle Nico" at this looked both Poseidon and Hades together, sure they got along a bit better then with Zeus, but they relationship could still not be called close. "Well in such cases had he most of the time her also with him and some months ago we found out that she is expecting pups and the only dog that was most of the time in her presence." Sally trailed of when she saw the realization on the faces of Hades, Persephone and Artemis.

"You mean that you will have soon crossbreed pups between a hellhound and Cerberus." Persephone said with wide eyes, she liked Cerberus, he may look fierce, but he was also such a playful thing.

"I would also like to request one for the Hunt." Artemis said suddenly, shocking everyone. "What, I always thought that uncle had made a good pick with his guardian dog and such a crossbreed would not only help to protect our camp and my girls from danger" at this she shoot a look at her twin who squirmed in his seat", but it would also be a great help tracking down monsters." she finished her explanation.

"Ok, we will put you also on the list for one of the pups." Enysswe said and Artemis nodded gratefully, she could hardly wait for the time when the pups are born.

_**"We would only make matters worse by rushing him," Mr. Brunner said. "We need the boy to mature more."**_

At this broke the legacies out into a full out laughter, some of them were even rolling around on the floor, gasping for breath.

"If…if…they would have done that…then I fear the world would have already ended." laughed Enysswe as she leaned against her cousin.

"Uncle Percy and mature are two different things." come it from the Stoll cousins.

"Perseus, continue, they will be gone for a while." Hercules said as he looked at the nine who didn't look like people who would stop laughing anytime soon.

"You know that this sound really reassuring for my marriage." Annabeth muttered to Katie as she looked at her children.

"Well, as it seems I marry one of the Stolls so I can't say all to many reassuring things." Katie replied back to her friend who nodded.

_**"But he may not have time. The summer solstice deadline— "**_

At this perked everyone who was not busy with laughing up, what did that mean?

_**"Will have to be resolved without him, Grover. Let him enjoy his ignorance while he still can."**_

_**"Sir, he saw her... ."**_

_**"His imagination," Mr. Brunner insisted. "The Mist over the students and staff will be enough to convince him of that." **_

_**"Sir, I ... I can't fail in my duties again." Grover's voice was choked with emotion. "You know what that would mean."**_

"Grover, it was not your fault so stop blaming yourself, I would be dead if it would not have been for you!" Annabeth snapped and finally the nine stopped laughing.

"What do you mean daughter." Athena asked worriedly.

"Uhm…"

"It will come later up in the book and some more in the others." Misty said, but give a reassuring smile to Annabeth who paled slightly to signal to her that it will be fine in the end.

_**"You haven't failed, Grover," Mr. Brunner said kindly. "I should have seen her for what she was. Now let's just worry about keeping Percy alive until next fall—"**_

Tension broke out in the throne room and also outside of the main palace as everyone asked themselves why the boy needed to be protected so much, he was still to young and didn't know anything so why would he be seen as a threat by anyone.

_**The mythology book dropped out of my hand and hit the floor with a thud.**_

"No! Don't give away your position!" yelled suddenly Hermes, Apollo, the four Stolls, Chris, Jason and Dakota before being smacked over the head by those sitting closest to them.

_**Mr. Brunner went silent.**_

_**My heart hammering, I picked up the book and backed down the hall.**_

_**A shadow slid across the lighted glass of Brunner's office door, the shadow of something much taller than my wheelchair-bound teacher, holding something that looked suspiciously like an archer's bow.**_

"And why would have happened if he blew his cover?" asked Annabeth in shock, why was Chiron so careless? What was so special about Percy Jackson, but seeing how he was a child of the Bi…she suddenly halted her thoughts, was it possible that…could he be the child of the prophecy, but then how come that he is still alive. She needed to know more to be sure.

_**I opened the nearest door and slipped inside.**_

_**A few seconds later I heard a slow clop-clop-clop, like muffled wood blocks, then a sound like an animal snuffling right outside my door. A large, dark shape paused in front of the glass, then moved on.**_

The heroes of the past could not shake down the fact that something sounded really familiar here.

_**A bead of sweat trickled down my neck.**_

_**Somewhere in the hallway, Mr. Brunner spoke. "Nothing," he murmured. "My nerves haven't been right since the winter solstice."**_

Everyone exchanged again confused, worried glances with each other. Just what happened in the future.

"Uhm…just a question, if these books are happening one and a half year later in our time then that what happened on the Winter Solstice will be soon happening." said Chris nervously, whatever it was it must have been something bad if it was the ground why the gods were fighting.

"I fear so Son of Hermes." Athena said in a grave tone as she tried to figure out what could have happened.

"I hope that it will not be something hat endangers the campers who will be visiting." Katie said in a worried tone.

"What?" asked the gods, past heroes and the Romans.

"Each time by the Winter Solstice are selected campers allowed to visit Mt. Olympus and see they godly parents and spend a small time with them, this is also the time when the godly parent can decide if they would like to give they child a magical item as a present." Annabeth explained with a little smile.

"You are really lucky." Gwen said feeling a bit jealous, the gods really seemed to love they Greek children not like some of the other Romans said, not only were the Greeks still present they had also a closer bond with they kids.

"In the future is it a mixed visit by both camps and there are some occasions when the gods visit the camps mostly when we have the combined Capture the Flag or War Games going on when either of the camps visit the other." Nathan said as he turned to the Roman demigods who smiled slightly at hearing this while the Greek demigods gave them reassuring smile to show that they will be happy when that time comes.

"I feel also glad that some of such things will get righted out in the future, you should not neglect your children like this." Hestia said softly while the past heroes thought about how lucky the future demigods will be to have more contact with they immortal parents.

_**"Mine neither," Grover said. "But I could have sworn ..."**_

_**"Go back to the dorm," Mr. Brunner told him. "You've got a long day of exams tomorrow."**_

_**"Don't remind me."**_

_**The lights went out in Mr. Brunner's office.**_

_**I waited in the dark for what seemed like forever.**_

_**Finally, I slipped out into the hallway and made my way back up to the dorm. Grover was lying on his bed, studying his Latin exam notes like he'd been there all night.**_

_**"Hey," he said, bleary-eyed. "You going to be ready for this test?"**_

_**I didn't answer.**_

_**"You look awful." He frowned. "Is everything okay?"**_

_**"Just... tired."**_

_**I turned so he couldn't read my expression, and started getting ready for bed.**_

"Good plan Perce, but unfortunately you can's shield your emotions." said Travis matter of factly.

"Huh?" Frank asked confused.

"Satyrs or fauns in your case can not only smell out monsters, they can also read emotions." Katie explained.

"I didn't know that." Gwen said feeling sad for the fauns, if they really felt others emotions then it must really hurt them how most people treated them in New Rome and camp.

"You say that they can smell out monsters, that is a good ability to have." Reyna said in a thoughtful tone, she was starting to get an idea why the Greeks use them and this could also be a handy thing for them.

"What are you thinking Reyna?" Jason asked, he felt still strange talking to her after finding out that he will marry her, not that he minded she was a pretty, confident, intelligent and strong girl, a good combination.

"I think we might have found something for the fauns to do around camp." she replied not looking at her fellow praetor in fear that she might blush if directly looking at him. Sure she knew that it was not unusual for two praetors to start a relationship because of the time they spend together, but being faced with the fact so soon that the man beside her will be her husband and the father of her son was different. All this information had come too soon; they weren't even dating at the given time before they were literally thrown into the deep water.

"I'm sure that it will be a great idea." Jason replied to her with a wide grin on his face which made Reyna blush. _"She kind of looks really pretty like this._" he thought happily, ignoring the love goddess who looked excited by the feelings of love emitting from him, even Gwen could feel it which made her smile for her two praetors, they really made a good fit.

_**I didn't understand what I'd heard downstairs. I wanted to believe I'd imagined the whole thing.**_

_**But one thing was clear: Grover and Mr. Brunner were talking about me behind my back. They thought I was in some kind of danger.**_

"No little brother, they were only discussing the weather." Triton said sarcastically before he turned with a confused look to the laughing children. "Yes?"

"Sorry, but that was the same kind of sarcasm our dad would use." Sally said and Triton's cheeks turned a darker shade of green in embarrassment while his father laughed good naturally and gave his son a smile which made him only blush more, but also happy that his father was paying attention to him.

_**The next afternoon, as I was leaving the three-hour Latin exam,**_

"WHAT!" screamed most of those present in horror while Athena and her children beamed.

_**my eyes swimming with all the Greek and Roman names I'd misspelled,**_

Everyone flinched in sympathy.

_**Mr. Brunner called me back inside.**_

_**For a moment, I was worried he'd found out about my eavesdropping the night before, but that didn't seem to be the problem.**_

_**"Percy," he said. "Don't be discouraged about leaving Yancy. It's ... it's for the best."**_

"Ugh…his social skills are still lacking in some departments!" groaned all those who knew that it was Chiron.

"This sounds pretty familiar, not what his teacher is saying in contents, but in general." Theseus said as he read further ahead.

_**His tone was kind, but the words still embarrassed me.**_

The other past heroes looked again thoughtful, they were sure that they had heard such a speech already at least once in they lives.

_**Even though he was speaking quietly, the other kids finishing the test could hear. Nancy Bobofit smirked at me and made sarcastic little kissing motions with her lips.**_

There were many growls to be heard in and around the palace, that girl was annoying.

_**I mumbled, "Okay, sir."**_

_**"I mean ..." Mr. Brunner wheeled his chair back and forth, like he wasn't sure what to say.**_

_**"This isn't the right place for you. It was only a matter of time."**_

"Ugh… he is sooo going to misunderstand that one." groaned Clarisse as she leaned back in her seat, hands on her eyes.

_**My eyes stung.**_

_**Here was my favorite teacher, in front of the class, telling me I couldn't handle it. After saying he believed in me all year, now he was telling me I was destined to get kicked out.**_

_**"Right," I said, trembling.**_

_**"No, no," Mr. Brunner said. "Oh, confound it all. What I'm trying to say ... you're not normal, Percy. That's nothing to be—"**_

"Chiron!" the four heroes of the past exclaimed in union as they looked at the future demigods for confirmation.

"Yes, it is him." Annabeth said while shaking her head, feeling sorry for her future husband, one could only misunderstand this speech if one did not know what they were.

"Lupa would have never made such a speech." Jason said.

"Yes, she would have made it sound like a threat to either take it or be eaten." Dakota said which earned them many raised eyebrows from those who have never met Lupa.

"True, this is I think one of the grounds why Kelly and the rest of the Aphrodite cabin are busy conspirating with they half-siblings in Camp Jupiter." Misty said in a thoughtful tone.

"What are my children up to?" Aphrodite asked curiously.

"Easy, they want to set Chiron up with Lupa." Sally replied giggling while the two camper groups looked a bit strange or more like creeped out while the oldest gods hid a snicker about the thought that Aphrodite's children want to set they brother up with someone.

"Theseus, please continue." Poseidon said to his son, amusement still clearly in his tone, to bad that he could not go teasing his half-brother about his future without freaking the poor centaur out.

_**"Thanks," I blurted. "Thanks a lot, sir, for reminding me.**_

_**"Percy—"**_

_**But I was already gone.**_

_**On the last day of the term, I shoved my clothes into my suitcase.**_

_**The other guys were joking around, talking about their vacation plans. One of them was going on a hiking trip to Switzerland. Another was cruising the Caribbean for a month. They were juvenile delinquents, like me, but they were rich juvenile delinquents. Their daddies were executives, or ambassadors, or celebrities.**_

"My dad is still needing to be an ambassador for grandfather even though aunt Hazel is at Camp Jupiter, he hates being forced to wear a toga for the senate meetings." Enysswe said bitterly.

"Just like you do when one of the camps visits the other." Nathan said grinning, but backed behind Henry when she glared at him.

"Well, seeing that it was made clear that your formal outfit needs to represent your whole parentage no matter that you are legacy I would not comment Grace. I'm the one needing to go through the annoyance of representing three gods at the same time." Enysswe growled, if getting those damned cloths around herself in which you could hardly move was not torture enough then was the jewellery on her, wrists, ears, neck, the circlet and those things in her hair enough to make one hate dressing formal.

"En, look at the bright side, even if you need to dress up the most, at least you don't fall on your nose by any second step you take, really Nathan is the best training for my reflexes with all the times I needed to catch him. It makes me forget that I look as if I have robbed a jewellery store." Henry said while his co-praetor pouted and Enysswe nodded, her cousin's mom got the powers representing they grandfather being also lord of the riches of the earth so his formal gowns were always full of precious stones and metals which were woven into his outfit.

"I also hate to dress up, those clothes are icky and daddy says the same when mom and grandma don't look." said Perses which made everyone chuckle or to smile at the little boy while Andromeda was glaring at her blushing husband who tried to not meet her eyes.

_**I was a nobody, from a family of nobodies.**_

"We take offense to that." stated everyone present inside the throne room.

_**They asked me what I'd be doing this summer and I told them I was going back to the city. **_

_**What I didn't tell them was that I'd have to get a summer job walking dogs or selling magazine subscriptions, and spend my free time worrying about where I'd go to school in the fall.**_

_**"Oh," one of the guys said. "That's cool."**_

_**They went back to their conversation as if I'd never existed.**_

Some people huffed indignantly.

_**The only person I dreaded saying good-bye to was Grover, but as it turned out, I didn't have to. He'd booked a ticket to Manhattan on the same Greyhound as I had, so there we were, together again, heading into the city.**_

_**During the whole bus ride, Grover kept glancing nervously down the aisle, watching the other passengers. It occurred to me that he'd always acted nervous and fidgety when we left Yancy, as if he expected something bad to happen. Before, I'd always assumed he was worried about getting teased. But there was nobody to tease him on the Greyhound.**_

_**Finally I couldn't stand it anymore.**_

_**I said, "Looking for Kindly Ones?"**_

"That will give him a heart attack." Annabeth said while some of the others snickered.

_**Grover nearly jumped out of his seat. "Wha—what do you mean?"**_

_**I confessed about eavesdropping on him and Mr. Brunner the night before the exam.**_

"NO! You never confess to a crime!" cried all the trublemakers, but keept silent when being faced by the glares they got.

"Great, I'm giving birth to a second Travis Stoll." Katie said huffing as she crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Katie darling, our son's name is Lance." Travis said helpfully.

"I know that and don't call me darling!" Katie snapped while Demeter massaged her forehead.

"At least did he not kidnap her and dragged her down into that dreadful place without any cereal." Demeter said in dismay.

"Mother, leave my husband alone." Persephone snapped as she leaned over to her husband so that only he would hear her. "The lack of cereal is one of the main grounds I prefer to live in the Underworld then with her." at this Hades chuckled.

"And what would be the other main reasons, beside being free from her smothering and rants about cereal?" he asked in amusement.

"I would say you." she answered with a mischievous smile on her lips when her husband took her hand into his own and started rubbing her wrist. Hades's hands and skin in general were always a bit colder then that of a normal person, but she never minded this because he made her feel protected.

Neither of them noticed the glare Demeter was giving them, the annoyed looks from Zeus and Poseidon as they wives glared at them which clearly said _why-can't-you-act-like-this-with-us-without-a-reason-like-a-birthday-or-anyvesary, _the shuddering looks from some of the kids who could live without the lovely looks between the two gods, Aphrodite's beaming or the little look of jealousy from Apollo.

"Theseus." Hercules said to his cousin who nodded.

_**Grover's eye twitched. "How much did you hear?"**_

"Not much, only the whole thing." Come it from everyone both inside and outside the palace.

_**"Oh ... not much. What's the summer solstice dead-line?"**_

_**He winced. "Look, Percy ... I was just worried for you, see? I mean, hallucinating about demon math teachers ..."**_

_**"Grover—"**_

_**"And I was telling Mr. Brunner that maybe you were overstressed or something, because there was no such person as Mrs. Dodds, and ..."**_

_**"Grover, you're a really, really bad liar."**_

_**His ears turned pink.**_

"We are soo giving him lessons in lying no matter what Mr. D threatens us with because of it." whispered Connor to his brothers while the others only shook they heads at Grover.

_**From his shirt pocket, he fished out a grubby business card. "Just take this, okay? In case you need me this summer.**_

_**The card was in fancy script,**_

"I always wondered why the cards were written like that, it is murderer for dyslexia." Chris exclaimed while looking at the other demigods.

"Why do I have the feeling that Mr. D loves to see us suffer while trying to read it." Will said huffing as the others nodded.

"And who is this person?" Zeus asked.

"Someone you have sent into our lives Lord Zeus." replied all Greek demigods not wanting to reveal who it was just now.

"I see." Zeus replied.

_**which was murder on my dyslexic eyes, but I finally made out something like:**_

_**Grover Underwood**_

_**Keeper**_

_**Half-Blood Hill**_

_**Long Island, New York**_

_**(800) 009-0009**_

"So, this is where you are." Reyna said as she looked over at the Greeks.

"Yes, where is your camp located?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"San Francisco." Reyna replied not feeling bad about giving the location away no matter how Octavian was scowling at her currently, only because he was keeping mostly silent didn't mean that he trusted the Greeks.

_**"What's Half—"**_

_**"Don't say it aloud!" he yelped. "That's my, um ... summer address."**_

There were a few snickers at that comment.

_**My heart sank. Grover had a summer home. I'd never considered that his family might be as rich as the others at Yancy.**_

"I think aunt Rachel would take offense to that." Sally said giggling as she imagined her aunt backing her dad into the wall.

"Who?" some people asked.

"She will appear around the third book, but surely be in the fourth with one of the most epic moves in all history." Lance said laughing as he looked over at Michael that he should tape everyone's reactions when they read about how a mortal pinned the King of Titans in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush.

"Aha…"

"You guys will love her." Michael reassured as he also imagined the scene when she attacked they great-grandfather.

_**"Okay," I said glumly. "So, like, if I want to come visit your mansion."**_

_**He nodded. "Or ... or if you need me."**_

_**"Why would I need you?"**_

_**It came out harsher than I meant it to.**_

"At least is he sorry." Hera said with Amphitrite nodding.

_**Grover blushed right down to his Adam's apple. "Look, Percy, the truth is, I—I kind of have to protect you."**_

_**I stared at him.**_

_**All year long, I'd gotten in fights, keeping bullies away from him. I'd lost sleep worrying that he'd get beaten up next year without me. And here he was acting like he was the one who defended me.**_

_**"Grover," I said, "what exactly are you protecting me from?"**_

"Things you would be happy to never meet in your life and mad relatives who want to have you either killed by your parents or they will do it themselves." said all demigods and the nine legacies, they were the ones adding in the relatives part. The gods meanwhile looked everywhere then at they children and grandchildren.

"What do you mean by the last part?" Reyna asked in confusion while the other demigods also stared wide eyed at they future children.

"Don't worry mom, those involved know what we mean." Nathan said in a tight voice as he tried to not glare at his grandfather who at least looked guilty while Hades glared at him with venom in his eyes.

_**There was a huge grinding noise under our feet. Black smoke poured from the dashboard and the whole bus filled with a smell like rotten eggs. The driver cursed and limped the Greyhound over to the side of the highway. After a few minutes clanking around in the engine compartment, the driver announced that we'd all have to get off. Grover and I filed outside with everybody else.**_

_**We were on a stretch of country road—no place you'd notice if you didn't break down there. On our side of the highway was nothing but maple trees and litter from passing cars. On the other side, across four lanes of asphalt shimmering with afternoon heat, was an old-fashioned fruit stand.**_

_**The stuff on sale looked really good: heaping boxes of bloodred cherries and apples, walnuts and apricots, jugs of cider in a claw-foot tub full of ice. There were no customers, just three old ladies sitting in rocking chairs in the shade of a maple tree, knitting the biggest pair of socks I'd ever seen.**_

"Just a question En, were they there just to have fun or did they wish for him to see it?" Nathan whispered to the granddaughter of dead/riches, sleep and sun.

"Usually I would tip on they strange humour, my whole family has that on mum's side, but I think they wanted uncle Percy to witness, but not many outside of the family know that each life thread has they own colour." Enysswe explained to the young praetor who nodded before asking.

"And what is my colour?" he asked her.

"You will have to either ask them yourself or figure out on your own, the colour is always based on your parentage, personality and deeds in life." and with that she turned back only to caught the love goddess turning away from them with a smile on her lips which unnerved her greatly.

_**I mean these socks were the size of sweaters, but they were clearly socks. The lady on the right knitted one of them. The lady on the left knitted the other. The lady in the middle held an enormous basket of electric-blue yarn.**_

_**All three women looked ancient, with pale faces wrinkled like fruit leather, silver hair tied back in white bandannas, bony arms sticking out of bleached cotton dresses.**_

Everyone started looking thoughtful; there was something bothersome about these three old ladies, but they were not sure what it was.

_**The weirdest thing was, they seemed to be looking right at me.**_

_**I looked over at Grover to say something about this and saw that the blood had drained from his face. His nose was twitching.**_

_**"Grover?" I said. "Hey, man—"**_

_**"Tell me they're not looking at you. They are, aren't they?"**_

"Why is he so freaked out?" Connor asked confused, but no one was sure, but then Athena, Annabeth and Malcolm gasped in horror while Hades only looked over at his grandchildren who nodded, they calmness signalling to him that this was one of they usual games and nothing bad would befall the young hero at this moment.

"What is it?" Zeus demanded to know while outside were all minor gods and nature spirits gapping in horror or looking remorseful for they had already figured out who they were that the young demigod was seeing.

"Only some relatives of mine." Enysswe said smirking which didn't help the others to calm down in the least.

"They are surely not from my side." Apollo stated as he looked over at his granddaughter. "Or from uncle Hades's side for that matter so that only leaves…" he suddenly paled.

"From the side of her second mother." Artemis said.

"But it could be any of them, Lady Nyx had a few triplets, though neither of those triplets is nice to be faced with if you wish to live."

"Hermes, you are not helping uncle Poseidon fight down his heart attack." Hephaestus pointed out to his half-brother as they both looked over to the pale Sea God, not that either of his three present sons looked any better then they father.

"Sorry, uncle P." Hermes said carefully.

"Thi…this…" Triton was at loss for words sure he rarely liked any of his half-siblings and he mostly detested the demigods and didn't shed a tear when they passed, but still with only twelve meeting those three.

"HOW COME THAT YOU TWO WERE BORN?!" yelled suddenly everyone as they looked at Luke and Sally.

"Please, I told you that uncle Percy meet three of my relatives, did I say more?" Enysswe asked in annoyance, her eyes slowly starting to turn golden. "Could we please continue?" she asked as everyone started to suddenly feel a bit tired, but the feeling suddenly disappeared when Theseus cleared his throat to start reading again.

"I think she had used her powers inherited from Hypnos's son." whispered Hera to Demeter who nodded, he gaze on the adopted granddaughter of her daughter.

"She certainly is powerful, but seeing how she is a product from the combined power of three demigods one of them being the son of a first generation god is it no wonder." Demeter whispered back to her sister.

_**"Yeah. Weird, huh? You think those socks would fit me?"**_

"That is no joking matter!" yelled the demigods and gods in panic.

_**"Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all."**_

"We agree!"

_**The old lady in the middle took out a huge pair of scissors—gold and silver, long-bladed, like shears. I heard Grover catch his breath.**_

"Grand-aunt Atropos" Enysswe said smiling brightly, she loved all her relatives from her grandfather Hypnos's side, they were always nice to her, it was also a rare thing that a child of Nyx would fight against they sibling unlike by other deities. "You know, she still finds it funny that the name of her Roman counterpart is Morta meaning _'death'_ because the name of her older brother Thanatos is Mors, not that either of them minds." she said smiling before her eyes flashed angrily as they rested on Hercules who shuddered. "Grand-uncle Thanatos only minds foolish beings who don't understand the concept that when one thing is destined to die then he has a right to claim they soul." she hissed at the hero who perfectly knew what she meant.

"I know what you mean granddaughter, but most people think they know better then they do." Hades said remembering that particular incident a few months ago, Lady Nyx was not pleased with the way her son gets treated nowadays.

"Theseus, please continue." Hercules whispered to his cousin nervously, his eyes never leaving neither Hades nor his granddaughter.

"You certainly pissed them off." Theseus whispered back to the other not wishing to be in his place right now.

"No need to tell me, and I thought that only Lady Artemis would be ready to blast me into pieces when I say the wrong thing."

"So this is why you have been so quiet?" this would certainly explain some things.

"What did you think? Now please continue reading."

"Fine, fine."

_**"We're getting on the bus," he told me. "Come on."**_

_**"What?" I said. "It's a thousand degrees in there."**_

_**"Come on!'" He pried open the door and climbed inside, but I stayed back.**_

_**Across the road, the old ladies were still watching me. The middle one cut the yarn, and I swear I could hear that snip across four lanes of traffic.**_

Everyone who didn't know what the Fates had wanted were still pale.

_**Her two friends balled up the electric-blue socks, leaving me wondering who they could possibly be for—Sasquatch or Godzilla.**_

There were a few weak snickers, but people were still nervous.

_**At the rear of the bus, the driver wrenched a big chunk of smoking metal out of the engine compartment. The bus shuddered, and the engine roared back to life.**_

"I'm now even more sure that they wanted uncle Percy to witness the cutting of the yarn." Nathan whispered to his cousins.

_**The passengers cheered.**_

_**"Darn right!" yelled the driver. He slapped the bus with his hat. "Everybody back on board!"**_

_**Once we got going, I started feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu.**_

_**Grover didn't look much better. He was shivering and his teeth were chattering.**_

_**"Grover?"**_

_**"Yeah?"**_

_**"What are you not telling me?"**_

"How about everything?" Clarisse asked sarcastically.

_**He dabbed his forehead with his shirt sleeve. "Percy, what did you see back at the fruit stand?"**_

_**"You mean the old ladies? What is it about them, man? They're not like ... Mrs. Dodds, are they?"**_

_**His expression was hard to read, but I got the feeling that the fruit-stand ladies were something much, much worse than Mrs. Dodds. He said, "Just tell me what you saw."**_

_**"The middle one took out her scissors, and she cut the yarn."**_

_**He closed his eyes and made a gesture with his fingers that might've been crossing himself, but it wasn't. It was something else, something almost—older.**_

"The sign to ward of evil." Annabeth whispered.

_**He said, "You saw her snip the cord."**_

_**"Yeah. So?" But even as I said it, I knew it was a big deal.**_

_**"This is not happening," Grover mumbled. He started chewing at his thumb. "I don't want this to be like the last time."**_

_**"What last time?"**_

_**"Always sixth grade. They never get past sixth."**_

"That will reassure him alright." Will said while rolling his eyes, before looking over at his daughter, he certainly freaked out when she had switched from amused to icy when she talked to Hercules. Not that he minded that she was protective about her family, that was a good trait, but it was still scary, it might come from the fact that she was the granddaughter of Hades and this brought him back to the fact that he really needed to know more about her dad.

_**"Grover," I said, because he was really starting to scare me. "What are you talking about?"**_

_**"Let me walk you home from the bus station. Promise me."**_

_**This seemed like a strange request to me, but I promised he could.**_

_**"Is this like a superstition or something?" I asked.**_

_**No answer.**_

_**"Grover—that snipping of the yarn. Does that mean somebody is going to die?"**_

_**He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin.**_

"This was the end of the chapter." Theseus said feeling a bit nauseous to the stomach as he handed the book over to Hercules who accepted ready to start reading so that he could continue avoiding the dark haired girl who was still glaring at him.

_To be continued…_

* * *

A/N: and so as I promised here is the list of our demigods and legacies:

_**Demigods:**_

_Children of Zeus/Jupiter:_ Perseus, Hercules and Jason

_Children of Poseidon: _Theseus, Orion

_Children of Athena: _Annabeth, Malcolm

_Children of Hermes: _Travis, Connor, Chris

_Children of Ares/Mars: _Clarisse, Frank

_Others: _Katie – Demeter, Will – Apollo, Reyna – Enyo/Bellona, Dakota – Dionysus/Bacchus, Gwen – Aphrodite/Venus,

_**Legacies: **_

Octavian: - L.: Apollo

Perses: Perseus/Andromeda – L.: Zeus

Nathan: Jason/Reyna – L.: Jupiter/Bellona

Luke and Sally Jackson: Percy/Annabeth – L.: Poseidon/Athena

Ace: Chris/Clarisse – L.: Hermes/Ares

Lance: Travis/Katie – L.: Hermes/Demeter

Misty: Connor/Lou Ellen – L.: Hermes/Hecate

Michael: Leo/Piper – L.: Hephaestus/Aphrodite

Henry: Frank/Hazel – L.: Mars(+Neptune)/Pluto

_**Not fully callable a demigod or legacy:**_

Enysswe: Nico/Will/Clovis – L.: Hades/Apollo/Hypnos


	4. Hate those dreams

A/N: so here is a new chapter after which I will start the next one because it is bothersome that while I may have a chance to sleep I get an idea what could be put into this story. Yes, I started doing a list about the points which will be in this, hate my brain. Also this chapter has a song in it from a Hungarian singer Ibolya Olah with the title "_Baby",_ the translation of the song to English is by me and that is the only thing I have to do with this song in the eyes of the law. I will be writing the translation under the original lines. What can I say, when stumbling on it again by accident I could so imagine Artemis singing this.

* * *

IV. Hate those dreams

Fine, Hercules could admit that sometimes he may be a _bit _to confident with his ego and immense strength. And there might have been times when he was warned about those…, but he kind of didn't listen and that thing with Thanatos and before that Zoe…uhm…That girl was definitely giving him the creeps and it would not surprise him if Echidna herself would flee from her glare.

_**Grover Unexpectedly Loses his Pants **_

"Oh gods," Travis exclaimed in shock, both hands on his face.

"Grover, how can you be so indecent." Connor continued while covering his face with his hands.

"Oh, grow up you two." Katie said while rolling her eyes before turning to her son and niece.

"Sorry, they will retain this personality even in our time." Lance replied while his mother groaned and Demeter started muttering about something under her breath which on the other hand made both Hades and Persephone roll they eyes.

"Look at the bright side aunt Katie, you will have at least more options how to get him to behave for at least a short time." Misty piped in grinning while the younger versions of her aunt and uncle went red as they realized what she was talking about. Well, everyone said that she got her cheek from both of her parents.

"I didn't need to imagine that Misty." groaned Lance, his face green. No kid wants to imagine they parents getting intimate; he already flees the scene when they start kissing. Well not that he minded kissing, but not seeing his parents doing it.

At the same time by the gods had Aphrodite tipped her head slightly to the side, now this was something interesting and there were even more. She certainly will try having fun with this new knowledge, as long as no one plays party popper for her, but it didn't matter, she loved challenges.

_**Confession time: I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.**_

At this many groans could be heard in and out of the throne room.

"Percy, you are in danger so why did you leave your protector?" Poseidon asked not paying attention to his wife who slowly nodded again to her decision that this demigod was her perfect revenge without even doing anything.

"Reckless like his father I see." Zeus said with a smug grin on his lips.

"Says the unofficial God of Theatre." commented Hades while rolling his eyes.

"Why are all of you bringing up this nonsense every time I say something?" Zeus demanded, thunder sounding over they heads.

"Because Zeus, it is the truth and unfortunately it seems that you have passed this fleer for dramatics in different degrees over to your children." threw in Hera to stop an argument from breaking out.

"Cool, I love theatre mostly if they display how awesome I am." commented Apollo grinning while striking a pose not noticing his son and grandson blushing while his granddaughter put her hand on her face mumbling something along the lines of _'still have two not embarrassing godly grandfathers' _

"No way Apollo, you know that I'm the greater." Hermes said while his sons shook they head in amusement at they dad, the other demigods and legacies were either shaking they heads or were looking slightly bewildered, the later were mostly the Romans who have never known the gods to act like this.

"I think you are both great." come it from Perses at which both gods grinned at the little boy while the other council members let out sighs of relief that they could finally continue and Hercules was only all to agreeable seeing that now the distraction was over and the dark princess was slowly turning back into his direction.

_**I know, I know. It was rude.**_

"Well at least he knows it was rude" Hestia stated.

_**But Grover was freaking me out, looking at me like I was a dead man, muttering "Why does this always happen?" and "Why does it always have to be sixth grade?"**_

"Grover." groaned the Greek campers.

"That satyr needs to work a bit on his confidence issues; they tend to babble if getting to nervous." Dionysus said from his throne, he was busy trying to concentrate more on the story and on the fact that he had one of his future children here, anstead on the annoying demigod that had hurt his lovely Ariadne, it was good that she didn't know her ex was here.

"He will learn in the future, well a bit." Sally said.

"In my option fauns _quak_." Octavian immediately covered his mouth in embarrassment as the others started laughing.

"Octavian, I think…it might really be be…better to think over before commenting." Dakota said laughing as he leaned closer to the blonde which made Aphrodite whipe her head in the direction of the Roman demigods.

If things continue like this will she need to make a list, she was getting material here to last for a long time so she failed to notice her husband's gaze on her just like the look he shared with Ares.

_**Whenever he got upset, Grover's bladder acted up, so I wasn't surprised when, as soon as we got off the bus, he made me promise to wait for him, then made a beeline for the restroom.**_

There was a wave of laughter going around, well except a few people who were still worried about Percy.

_**Instead of waiting, I got my suitcase, slipped outside, and caught the first taxi uptown.**_

_**"East One-hundred-and-fourth and First," I told the driver.**_

_**A word about my mother, before you meet her.**_

At this most demigods looked curiously at the book, most demigods had not the strongest bond to they mortal parent, while both Poseidon and Amphitrite leaned further forward in they thrones to hear about the mortal woman.

"Grandma is the best." Luke and Sally stated proudly.

"She makes brilliant sweets." Lance said.

"She doesn't mind listening to people talking about they plans." Michael said remembering how Mrs. Jackson would always listen to his and his dad's rants about new inventions.

"She sees the best in everyone and is really encouraging." Henry said smiling, both his parents really liked her.

"She never judges others before learning to know them." En said, her uncle's mum had practically adopted her father as hers and never judged him for who his father was. She had even told Enysswe once that she had talked a bit with her grandfather before he sent her back into the world of the living. She had said that he was a nice man who had went through much bitterness that forced him to hide behind a mask to protect himself from more hurt, this had made her smile that she had noticed this.

"She is pretty brave and respectable." Ace added in hearing the story about her taking part in the Titan War II. to help her son and even managing to learn how to use a gun right on the spot.

"She is a selfless and generous woman." come it from Nathan.

"She has kind of adopted all demigods, both Greek and Roman, who she has met, they children included." Misty said fondly.

"You all seem to really like her." Gwen said smiling at the nine teens who all nodded.

"Yes, also you all have meet her and most of you tend to drop by on visits to her apartment." at Nathan's comment all camper's eyes widened, sure they knew that Annabeth as her daughter-in-law would surely be often there, but that they all?

"Grandmum Sally has also started a type of helping group for the mortal parents of demigods and they new partners." at this looked everyone at Sally with wide eyes who after adapting her Legacy of Athena mode started explaining. "The group is divided in two main groups one is for the clear sighted mortal parents and those who were cleared up that the parent of they child is a Greek God/Goddess while the other is the rest. By the later group are the sessions made up so that it seems to be a regular self-help group for parents with children who have both dyslexia, ADHD and thus tend to cause much trouble and the likes. As for the other group the sessions go deeper into the Greek myths, the parents are made to understand what they demigod child goes through, what sort of monsters they might need to face, how to help them and understand them, be they support." everyone was listening to the explanation, it would have been great if such a group already existed, it would make most demigod kids lives more better to know that they could count on they mortal parent and stepparent. Annabeth found herself agreeing with the idea wholeheartedly and feeling a type of fondness for her future mother-in-law for being so insightful and trying to help them. "Also through allowance of the Olympian Council was it decided that every year on a certain day the first group may visit Camp Half-Blood for the duration of a weeks time." at this many gasped.

"They can visit camp?" Katie asked in a stunned tone, she had kind of always wanted to show her dad how her cabin looked; he was a botanist and would have probably liked to see it. Sadly you were not allowed to show photos to mortals about camp.

"Yup, and it is the same week when we have the Tournament Week." Henry said grinning as many looked confused.

"Tournament Week?" Reyna asked curiously.

"Yes, it means that we decorate up camp or better start decorating till Camp Jupiter arrives after the formal greeting and usual ritual." Michael started.

"What ritual?" Malcolm asked curiously at which both Lance and Misty stood up facing each other hugging, they eyes closed.

"_Chiron, are my Venus pups holding up flags again_?" Misty asked in her imitation of Lupa.

"_Does the Aphrodite cabin have the banners out again?" _Lance asked while imitation Chiron.

"_Cut it out children, we are only colleagues!" _the cousins shouted together before letting go of each other and bowing to they clapping friends while the others, mostly the gods broke out laughing.

"Seems as if my children are really into they task." Aphrodite said smiling with pride at the determination of her children to create a romance.

"That is an understatement, so usually after getting scolded the Hecate/Trivia kids free us from the formal outfits and we finish up the decoration and take up the bets before the gods flash in and grandaunt Sally arrives with her group." Michael continued when he was interrupted again.

"What do you mean by bets?" Annabeth asked in confusion.

"Nothing, just the usual about which god/goddess will be on which day on a roll to blast our dad from existence" Poseidon, Theseus and Orion let out a groan at this while Annabeth facepalmed at the word _'usual'_ and the casual tone her son used about the possibility of a divinity wishing to kill his father "or where Lord Apollo will be hiding next, the most popular ones are in the stalls, attic and Ares cabin." finished Luke while everyone just stared at him before they slowly turned to a perplexed looking Apollo.

"Huh… why would I be hiding?" he asked in confusion.

"Well, lets just say that we are about to have this year's Tournament Week soon and you will be busy hiding form the twenty five women you have a kid with and are still pretty much interested to spend alone time with you, my grandmother not included and with some of them having they new husbands with them..." Enysswe said trailing of as she saw her grandfather pale while beside him Hermes had trouble staying on his throne while laughing, Artemis only rolled her eyes while mouthing '_serves you right'_.

"Ugh…at least is mom over it." Will mumbled as he looked at his father pityingly, while all around him others started failing to hide they laughter.

It took them ten minutes to calm down so that the children could continue with they explaining.

"So after everything is set and the guests are there the children do a tour for they mortal parents and show them around the camp, there are also show fights or skill demonstrations from the campers. On that week we have also a friendly game of Capture the Flag and War Games with the two camps against each other, chariot races also if some parent feels brave they can be shown how to ride pegasi." Misty explained to the groups, they parents and other demigod relatives looked like as if they really like the idea of this.

"You have pegasi at your camp?" Gwen asked, she liked Reyna's pegasus, but it would be great if there would be more in camp.

"Of course, riding classes on the pegasi is one of our main activities at camp and one of the most liked." Katie explained, she the loved riding classes.

"That sounds great." Jason said while looking at Reyna who nodded.

"Yep it is, so these are the main activities during that week with also some theatre plays by the Apollo cabin, the nightly sing-alongs with marshmallows and stories, then on the last day there is a huge firework, there was last year even a sing fight of genders which was hilarious." finished Lance grinning.

"Why was it hilarious?" Poseidon asked curiously.

"Well you see to that also the goddesses and the Hunters included themselves and they found a song with which they had not only won, but also gave a nice entertainment show with all the gods gapping like fish out of the water, some trying to cover they eyes in panic like Ares, Dionysus, Hermes and Poseidon." at this looked said male gods questioningly at each other. "Zeus had problems to decide which to do from those two options while Hades was busy hunting down Apollo who tried to sabotage the whole performance." explained Michael as he remembered how the blonde god tried to let the curtains down before the Lord of the Underworld grabbed him, threw him over his shoulder and walked back to they seats while the younger still tried and failed to grab the rope for the curtains. Also said god was currently blushing again, he only really got the words '_Hades_', '_hunting_' and his own name after that his brain made a 10 points jump into the gutter.

"Why would my brother try to sabotage the performance?" Artemis asked ready to scold her twin for being disrespectful to the women taking part in the contest.

"Well, the ones on stage doing the main singing were kind of you, stepgrandmother Hera and grandmother Athena and your outfits were kind of interesting, erm…Misty?" Luke said while turning to his cousin for some little help while the not long ago mentioned male gods could now imagine why they tried to not see the performance…well that is till Misty used her magic to let a mannequin appear with the outfit on it. THEY WILL DEFINIATELY _**NOT**_ WANT TO SEE THIS ON EITHRE OF THE THREE WOMEN!

There on the mannequin were black net stockings, a legless jumpsuit in the same colour, a while blouse with matching gloves with frilly ends, black jacket, an umbrella and high heeled boots. Let's just say that the performing trio looked with shocked eyes at the outfit, but the demigods were the most panicked. Annabeth was blushing furiously, Malcolm looked mortified at the thought of his mother walking up on the stage in that thing, they other boys tried to remind themselves that they will be blasted from Olymphos if they comment, while the girls were hoping that they had not worn such things.

"Uh…I need to check up on my sacred cows." Apollo said suddenly as he jumped up from his throne and flashed out right in the direction of his private bath, he was in desperate need for a cold bath now, well the others did not exactly care that he left, they were still to busy staring at the outfit.

"Well, they were provided by Aphrodite." Misty said as all three goddesses glared at the fourth one.

"You will make me go out in such a degrading thing!" Artemis growled.

"Well, you kind of liked the song so, you told her that you will let her live." Enysswe said, getting the goddess's attention.

"What is this song?" she asked, her expression still angered.

"En, sing it, you are a Legacy of Apollo plus a girl so it will go over better then if we get your mother or cousin to sing and your granddad has deserted the scene." Misty whispered to the black haired girl.

"Shouldn't we continue reading, there are others outside waiting for that." she whispered back

"They went to take a break so it is fine." was the reply she got.

"Ugh…alright." Enysswe said groaning before her eyes become blue, waving her hand music filled the air.

"Is that some type of jazz music?" Will asked curiously when he spotted his daughter now having blue eyes, this little fact made it frighteningly clearer that she was his, he did not know why, but she kind of looked now a bit more like him.

"Yes it is and I'm now forced to sing it so no interruptions, we still have a book to finish and it will be soon time for lunch." she said before starting to sing.

_Te Baby! Te Baby! Te Baby! Jár nekünk a boldogság!_

_**Hey Baby! Hey Baby! Hey Baby! We are allowed to be happy!**__  
__Oh annana..._

_**Oh annana…**__  
Baby! Te Baby! Te Baby! (Hát) rúzsozd ki a szád!_

_**Hey Baby! Hey Baby! So put your lipstick on!  
**__  
__Mit ér egy n__ő__, mondd?!_

_**Tell me what is a woman worth?!  
**__Áldozat a léte._

_**Her existence is sacrifice.  
**__Miért a férfi _

_**Why is the man  
**__kényszeríti térdre?_

_**forcing her on knees?**_

Artemis sent a glare at the assembled men who didn't dare saying even a word till she turned back to her grandniece; she also ignored Aphrodite who was now furiously scribbling on a parchment in her hand.

_S mit ér egy férfi,_

_**And what is a man worth  
**__(ha) nélkülünk senki?_

_**if he is nothing without us?  
**__Elég volt, Baby_

_**It is enough Baby  
**__az elnyomásból ennyi!_

_**the repression is over!**_

There was a little smile on the Huntress's lips, she was starting to get why she had chosen to sing this song even thought she would need to wear that degrading outfit. The men meanwhile got a bit uneasy when looking at her.

_Kevés vagy, Ádám!_

_**You are not enough Adam!  
**__Nálam van az alma._

_**I have the apple.**__  
Mit ér a kígyód,_

_**What is your snake worth  
**__(ha) nulla a hatalma?!_

_**if it has no might?!  
**__Ma éjjel végre _

_**Tonight finally  
**__gy__ő__zni fog a n__ő__nem._

_**the womanhood will triumph.**__  
Beléphet bárki_

_**Everyone may join  
**__a party-ra csak __ő__k nem._

_**the party except them.**_

_RÉG EZT A KÖNNYED ÉRZÉST VÁROD!_

_**SINCE A LONG TIME**__**DID YOU WAIT FOR THIS LIGHT FEELING!**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZATART A_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE RESTRAINED BY THE **__  
FÉK, HOGY ELHAGY A PÁROD._

_**BREAK**__, __**THAT YOUR LOVER LEAVES YOU.**_

Theseus was again squirming in his seat when he felt the God of Wine glare at him again, why did this song need to have a line about a '_lover leaving the girl behind_ 'in it? Well his father and uncle were not doing better, they were trying to get they wives to look at them, but they refused, leaving the two brothers confused.

"I wonder when they will get it." Hades wondered while Persephone looked over at her father and uncle.

"I would say it might take a bit." she said not wanting to admit that she was also kind of scared that there might come a day when Hades leaves her, even thought they are still together so far in the future.

"True, also "she felt him take her hand into his and gently kissing it "you know that you are the one I wish to have at my side till all eternity as my wife and queen." he said calmly, his dark eyes never leaving her eyes even for a second.

"Yes." she replied smiling, happy that even though it was not needed from his part, he still tried reassuring her, it was sweet.

"Hey Will, your daughter is pretty good with this, though the song kind of makes me want to crawl under a rock." Travis whispered to the blonde who nodded uneasily, he could certainly see why the female team had won the contest.

_TUDOM, HOGY,_

_**I KNOW THAT**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZAFOG A_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE HOLD BACK BY…**_

_LUBADUBA-LABADABA_

_**LUBADUBA-LABADABA  
**__JAJ ISTENEM SOK A RIZSA!_

_**OH GOD SO MUCH BABLING!**_

_Bárhol élsz, ott te csak egy nő vagy._

_**No matter where you live, you are only a woman.**_

At this most of the girls huffed and the boys were by both demigod groups slowly edging away from Clarisse and Reyna.

_Bármit kérsz,_

_**Whatever you ask for**__  
az ára az túl nagy._

_**the price is to high. **__  
Okosnak, szépnek, _

_**Smart, beautiful,**__  
szajhának kell lenni._

_**a whore you must be.**_

Aphrodite stopped in her writing and let out a growl which made both her husband and lover pull they thrones farther from hers, just to be safe.

_Elég volt, Baby_

_**It is enough Baby**__  
az elnyomásból ennyi!_

_**the repression is over!**_

_Kevés vagy, Ádám!_

_**You are not enough Adam!  
**__Nálam van az alma._

_**I have the apple.**__  
Mit ér a kígyód,_

_**What is your snake worth**__  
(ha) nulla a hatalma?!_

_**if it has no might?!**__  
Ma éjjel végre _

_**Tonight finally**__  
gy__ő__zni fog a n__ő__nem._

_**the womanhood will triumph.**__  
Beléphet bárki_

_**Everyone may join**__  
a party-ra csak __ő__k nem._

_**the party except them.**_

_RÉG_

_**SINCE A LONG TIME**__  
EZT A KÖNNYED ÉRZÉST VÁROD!_

_**DID YOU WAIT FOR THIS LIGHT FEELING!**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZATART A_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE RESTRAINED BY THE **__  
FÉK, _

_**BREAK**__  
HOGY ELHAGY A PÁROD._

_**THAT YOUR LOVER LEAVES YOU.**__  
TUDOM, HOGY,_

_**I KNOW THAT**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZAFOG A..._

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE HOLD BACK BY…**_

_Tudom, hogy visszafog a társadalmi morál._

_**I know that you are held back by the social bill.**__  
Elég, egy görbe est, a város máris subi-dumál._

_**It is enough to have a little night fling and the whole city is already chatting. **__  
Nekik meg bármit szabad, kis etye-petye._

_**And they can do anything a little fun there and here.**__  
Viszont egy rendes n__ő__nek otthon van a helye!_

_**But the place of a good woman is at home!**_

"Correction, they got it." Hades said while watching both his younger brothers flinch and look guiltily at the ground, it was also around this time that Apollo returned a bit more relaxed, but Hermes saw the he was lightly shivering and…were his lips blue?

"What happened by your cows?" he whispered to his brother who sighed inwardly it was a good idea that he went on a short check-up to them, sometimes he hated being also the God of Truth.

"They are fine and grazing around." he whispered back, trying to not imagine his twin singing _this_ song in _that_ outfit, he will murder everyone who dares drooling after her.

"Where? In Siberia?" Hermes asked incredulously, but Apollo had already turned away from him, he will need to find out what was wrong with his brother since they got the books.

_Vokál: Szééép!_

_**Vocal: Beeeauutifull! **__  
Nekik meg bármit szabad, bulik meg etye-petye._

_**And they can do anything, parties and a little fun there and here.**__  
Viszont egy rendes n__ő__nek otthon van a helye!_

_**But the place of a good woman is at home!**__  
Nekik meg bármit szabad, bulik meg etye-petye._

_**And they can do anything, parties and a little fun there and here.**__  
Viszont egy rendes n__ő__nek otthon van a helye!_

_**But the place of a good woman is at home!**_

_RÉG_

_**SINCE A LONG TIME**__  
EZT A KÖNNYED ÉRZÉST VÁROD!_

_**DID YOU WAIT FOR THIS LIGHT FEELING!**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZATART A_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE RESTRAINED BY THE**__  
FÉK, _

_**BREAK**__  
HOGY ELHAGY A PÁROD._

_**THAT YOUR LOVER LEAVES YOU.**__  
TUDOM, HOGY,_

_**I KNOW THAT**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZAFOG A…_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE HOLD BACK BY…**_

_Élj csak így,_

_**Live just like this,**__  
ha neked ez jó!_

_**if this is good for you!**__  
Viszont az én szerelmem_

_**But my love**__  
nem eladó!_

_**is not for sale!**_

All females nodded in agreement.

_A N__ő__ az N__ő__,_

_**A Woman is a Woman,**__  
és így az egál,_

_**and it is right like this,**__  
ami egy hímnek,_

_**what for a male,**__  
az nekem is jár._

_**I have the same right to it.**_

_Hát táncolj, tombolj_

_**So dance, let your hair down**__  
ruhát kigombolj!_

_**button out your dress!**_

"ONLY OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Apollo yelled, no man will ever see his sister undressed while Poseidon, Zeus and later god's male children hoped that all buttons had stayed shut by that performance.

"Apollo, sit down." Artemis hissed as she pulled him back to his throne, but still missed the glare sent at Orion who tried to imagine the scene, but stopped immediately and hid behind his brother when noticing the glare.

_Táncolj,_

_**Dance,**__  
ameddig úgy jó!_

_**as long as you like it!**_

_Táncolj, tombolj!_

_**Dance, let your hair down!**__  
Magadra gondolj!_

_**Think about yourself!**__  
Táncolj!_

_**Dance!**__  
Egy n__ő__ nem eladó!_

_**A woman is not for sale!**_

Again all the females' nodded while the guys squirmed in they seats, hoping that the song will be soon over.

_RÉG_

_**SINCE A LONG TIME**__  
EZT A KÖNNYED ÉRZÉST VÁROD!_

_**DID YOU WAIT FOR THIS LIGHT FEELING!**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZATART A_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE RESTRAINED BY THE**__  
FÉK, _

_**BREAK**__  
HOGY ELHAGY A PÁROD._

_**THAT YOUR LOVER LEAVES YOU.**__  
TUDOM, HOGY,_

_**I KNOW THAT**__  
TUDOM, HOGY VISSZAFOG A_

_**I KNOW THAT YOU ARE HOLD BACK BY…**_

_Tudom, hogy visszafog a társadalmi morál._

_**I know that you are held back by the social bill.**__  
Elég, egy görbe est, a város máris subi-dumál._

_**It is enough to have a little night fling and the whole city is already chatting.**__  
Nekik meg bármit szabad, kis etye-petye._

_**And they can do anything a little fun there and here.**__  
Viszont egy rendes n__ő__nek otthon van a helye!_

_**But the place of a good woman is at home!**_

_Vokál: Szééép!_

_**Vocal: Beeeauutifull! **__  
Nekik meg bármit szabad, bulik meg etye-petye._

_**And they can do anything, parties and a little fun there and here.**__  
Viszont egy rendes n__ő__nek otthon van a helye!_

_**But the place of a good woman is at home!**_

"Finally it is done." Enysswe said sighing, her eye colour becoming again a mix of black-blue-gold before glaring at Misty who hid behind Henry.

"I think we should now return to reading, as En said it is soon time for lunch." said Henry helpfully as everyone nodded they heads in agreement, Misty had tapped him on the shoulder to notify him that they audience was also back in they place.

"Continue Hercules." Zeus said to his son while he hoped that Hera would look at him again, till now no such luck.

_**Her name is Sally Jackson and she's the best person in the world,**_

"Told you that I was named after my grandmum." Sally said when everyone turned into his direction before waving her hand so that the reading could continue while Misty remembered the mannequin and made it dissapear.

_**which just proves my theory that the best people have the rottenest luck.**_

"So true, dad is one of the best people out there and he has the worst luck from all demigods combined." Luke said remembering that shopping trip with his family when his dad needed to stop the car when they were on the road on they way home to new Greece, groaned while saying _"Not you again, couldn't you have waited at least for next month?" _climbed out of the car with Riptide and destroyed the minotaur again.

"Being kind is often the hardest burden and carries much pain with it." Hestia said agreeing as she sadly remembered her kind brother and all the hurts that had been committed against him for something he could not be held responsible.

At the same time was everyone watching how four of the oldest gods in the room started looking uncomfortable at her words, but no one said anything and Hercules continued to reed to try lifting the heavy atmosphere.

_**Her own parents died in a plane crash when she was five,**_

Cue scowling and dark looks towards a squirming Zeus.

"WHAT!" most of the legacies beside the Jackson siblings and the Underworld cousins yelled, they knew that grandaunt Sally had lost her parents when she was five, but they didn't know how she had lost them!

"So new people to be added to the list of your innocent victims." Nathan growled when there was one thing then it was killing innocent people who had only made the mistake to trust that they plain would take them to they destination.

Seeing the situation his father was in, mostly when his two brothers also joined in with the glaring hurried Hercules to read, but he clearly heard a female voice grumble _"Now one can take a guess who had inherited the most from the King of Gods's personality."_, but he didn't dare looking up to see who had said it.

_**and she was raised by an uncle who didn't care much about her.**_

"He was her family, he should have cared about her." Hera growled, a five years old child who had lost they parents needs emotional support.

"I agree with you." Artemis growled, it is a wonder that the girl will grow up to that woman her grandchildren and they friends/cousins were praising so much.

_**She wanted to be a novelist,**_

"That is a person who writes stories, mortals in our time would call these books the works of a novelist or writer." explained Will to the gods who nodded, but still looked a bit confused.

"In the time we come from as you could hear in the chapters before this is it a norm for people to be taught in schools how to read, write and different other things. In one school there are many teachers and if one falls ill another takes they place temporary, education for all is even written down in the law and also stands under the personal rights of every human being that they have a right for education no matter they age, gender, social status or race." Annabeth explained at which Athena nodded pleased that there is a chance to give more people her blessing.

_**so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she had to quit school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.**_

"Poor lady." Perses said sadly as he snuggled up to his mother who hugged him.

Everyone looked saddened at this, Sally Jackson really had a hard life, but never gave up and just when it looked as if she could full fill her dreams a new tragedy struck her leaving her in the end with nothing. Even Amphitrite needed to admit that she was starting to feel respect for this woman, she had went through so much and most people would have ether given up or would have turned cold towards others using them for they own gain, but she somehow managed to retain her warmth and not only did she raise a demigod child with love and care, but also reached out to all of her son's kind and tried helping them and they families to understand each other better. Yes, she was really beginning to respect his woman unlike her husband's other mortal affairs, mostly that she seems to be happily married now to a mortal named Paul, she doubted that her stepgrandchildren would call him they grandfather if they would hate him. Wait since when did she start thinking _'her stepgrandchildren'_?

_**The only good break she ever got was meeting my dad.**_

"It is not easy to say this, and I really can't believe it, but good." Amphitrite said making everyone except the legacies were staring at her with open mouths. "Oh, close your mouths before you catch a fly in them, she clearly needed at least something uplifting in her life to give her strength to pull through her hardship." she said while gesturing for Hercules to read, but she could still feel both her husband's and son's gaze on her, but she ignored them still musing about her warming up to this woman who will not be born for a couple of thousand years.

_**I don't have any memories of him, just this sort of warm glow, maybe the barest trace of his smile.**_

All the demigods looked a bit jealous at the thought that Poseidon had visited his son when he had been a baby while the past heroes tried to find a memory of they godly parent visiting them at a really young age, but could find none except maybe the feeling of another divinity being present who wished them harm.

_**My mom doesn't like to talk about him because **__**it **__**makes her sad. She has no pictures. **__**See, they weren't married. **_

"Check."

_**She told me he was rich **_

"Check."

_**and important, **_

"Understandable check."

_**and their relationship was a secret.**_

"Double check."

_**Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.**_

"Check on all accounts, congratulations you got a God as your dad!" yelled the Stolls brothers in an attempt to lighten the mood and it seemed to work because some were laughing or at least smiling.

_**Lost at sea, my mom told me. Not dead. Lost at sea.**_

"Wow, she is really good she told him the truth, but still hid it in one sentence." Apollo said in a stunned tone while Athena looked startled, how could Poseidon have charmed an intelligent woman?

"She is really good, better then what our mom told us, nee Travis?" Connor asked his brother who nodded.

"What did your mother say where I was?" Hermes asked his sons curiously.

"She told us that you were _'Doing time.'._" Travis answered.

"This means that you are in jail for some type of crime you have committed." Malcolm explained upon seeing the confused look on the god's face.

"Well, I'm the God of Thieves also, but really." Hermes said with a raised eyebrow.

"I think most of your kids get told that, my mother said the same." Chris added in at which his father continued frowning while some of his relatives mainly Apollo and Ares started sniggering.

_**She worked odd jobs, took night classes to get her high school diploma, and raised me on her own. She never complained or got mad. Not even once. But I knew I wasn't an easy kid.**_

"She is a remarkable woman." all the goddesses said at the same time before Athena looked at her daughter who looked back at her, both were certain that Sally Jackson would make a good mother-in-law.

"No demigod child is easy to deal with." Reyna said as she remembered how her father had ignored them along with they stepmother, the night her older sister Hylla had come into her room and told her to pack as fast as she can so that they can leave before they parents return home. She had not understood what was wrong, but her sister looked worried, her strong sister looked never like that so she did as told and they had run away. Hylla had never told her the ground and she never asked.

_**Finally, she married Gabe Ugliano,**_

The nine legacies started growling in anger and it was as if the room had gotten slightly darker and colder.

"Who goes by the name Ugliano?" asked a confused looking Travis as he held back a snigger.

"Someone whose soul is just as ugly as they body." Henry hissed, that man was a disgrace to society and luckily was society finally free from him.

_**who was nice the first thirty seconds we knew him, then showed his true colors as a world-class jerk. When I was young, I nick named him Smelly Gabe. I'm sorry, but it's the truth. The guy reeked like moldy garlic pizza wrapped in gym shorts.**_

"Eugh…" all the demigods exclaimed indicating for everyone that it is not a smell one would like.

"Compare the smell to a month old boar cadaver left out on the sun in summer covered in cheese." Clarisse said as all from the past wrinkled they noses and looked green in the faces.

"That is disgusting!" Aphrodite yelled while covering her nose as if she could smell it.

"How did you come to that comparison?" Annabeth asked curiously, she had tried to find a way to explain the smell to the gods and past heroes since the paragraph had been read.

"One of our neighbours was somewhat funny in the head, he had somehow gotten his hand on a young boar, but it died after being feed only cheese and the guy didn't notice. My mum held me in the home when they come to get him into an asylum, I was around six then. Believe me, it reeked to high heavens." Clarisse explained reluctantly at which Annabeth nodded.

"Your mom just gave me a frightening and disgusting mental image Ace." Lance whispered to the other who shrugged it of.

_**Between the two of us, we made my mom's life pretty hard. The way Smelly Gabe treated her,**_

Many people narrowed they eyes at this while the growls got louder.

"You say that he is already my guest and had even the _'privilege'_ for a private experience?" Hades asked his grandchildren who nodded. "Good, I hope he is well served for his stay." he said with a manical glint in his eyes which made some people shudder.

"Oh, he sure does makes even Sisyphus a few times glad to have his boulder anstead of what he has." En said with the same glint in her eyes while she spat out the name of that mortal who dared to imprison her grandfather's twin.

"Hopefully will this make him be a bit more quiet, he is to loud in his complaining." Persephone said in distaste before flashing a look at her mother that she will return to the Underworld in fall no matter what she says.

_**the way he and I got along ... well, when I came home is a good example.**_

"I don't like where this is heading" said Katie and many nodded with her in agreement.

_**I walked into our little apartment, hoping my mom would be home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.**_

"Even the Ares cabin is cleaner then that place!" exclaimed Annabeth in shock making everyone glare at the book, even Clarisse was directing her glare at it because she needed to agree with the book worm.

"The same goes for the Hermes cabin." Katie said in sock which only hardened the glares which made Hercules squirm slightly in his seat because he saw that this will get worse.

_**Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, "So, you're home."**_

_**"Where's my mom?"**_

_**"Working," he said. "You got any cash?"**_

Before any of the past people could ask what that was broke all Hades out by those who had come from the future.

"HE DARED TO ASK HIS STEPSON FOR MONEY!" yelled a furious Annabeth not believing that someone could be such a scum, she had been blamed by her mortal family for anything that went wrong, but they never asked her to give them her money.

"That good for nothing…" Artemis growled as Poseidon and his family glared at the book with new intensity.

"He has no right for our brother's money." Orion hissed, his fist clenched.

_**That was it. No Welcome back. Good to see you. How has your life been the last six months?**_

"What would your dad had done if he would have asked one of those?" Katie asked while looking at the Jackson siblings.

"Probably gone to meet granduncle Hades in his realm." Luke replied.

_**Gabe had put on weight. He looked like a tusk less walrus in thrift-store clothes. He had about three hairs on his head, all combed over his bald scalp, as if that made him handsome or something.**_

"Ewww…not even I and my children put together could make that thing look handsome." gagged Aphrodite.

"Or look like a human." Gwen added in earning a smile from her mom which made her blush while her friends laughed.

"And you always say that you can't be a moral booster." Dakota said smiling to the girl which only made her blush deepen while Octavian looked at them scowling not noticing Aphrodite who took out her list again and started scribbling on it.

"You got that right, he is ugly on both the outside and the inside." Misty said in a disgusted tone, this was the first time that she got a physical description about grandaunt Sally's first husband. If she wouldn't respect her already then after this she would only a truly brave woman would hold out living with such a thing in one apartment.

_**He managed the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, but he stayed home most of the time. I don't know why he hadn't been fired long before. He just kept on collecting paychecks, spending the money on cigars that made me nauseous, and on beer, of course. Always beer.**_

_**Whenever I was home, he expected me to provide his gambling funds. He called that our "guy secret." Meaning, if I told my mom, he would punch my lights out.**_

* * *

"This book did just not imply that this mortal hurt a child because he didn't give him his money?" Iris asked in a horrified tone, the Goddess of Rainbow hated, no she despised violence.

"I think it just did." hissed Deimos in disgust while sharing a look with his twin brother Phobos who nodded.

"Such a despicable weakling, only true cowards hurt children." growled Enyo before turning to Tyche. "Why do you hate this woman and her demigod son in the future?" she demanded from her good friend who looked unsure how to answer that.

"Leave it Enyo, you know that neither of us knows what we will do in the future we need to listen and see." Nemesis said while sitting beside her sister Eris, she was still wondering why her sisters the Fates were allowing them to change the future.

"Still, we hope that he will be ours and not Thanatos's to get." come it form the three Keres in union.

"I agree with our sister Nem." Eris said to her sister who nodded.

"Something tells me that he will surely face a divine punishment, but now we should all quiet down and listen." come it from Sophrosyne who finally managed to get Soteria to stop muttering curses under her breath so that she only pulled out a parchment and made a note for herself to bless both mother and child with safety and deliverance from harm.

The others followed the words of the personification of self-control which made Hecate smile that she was not the only one keeping everyone here calm when also the last growls and curses died down, but then Nesoi the Goddess of Islands groaned, leaning against Kratos who tensed together with Kalokagathia.

"What is it?" Nike asked the three in worry.

"Let's just say that there are some here who have two brothers needing to do overtime today." Kratos groaned while wrapping his arms around Nesoi to hold her back as she struggled to get up.

"Let me go Kratos" she hissed in anger "I will only go in there and tell Lord Poseidon my option."

"And that would be a bad idea." he told her sternly and tightened his hold while some of the other minor deities also tensed at the sudden feeling washing over them.

"Let me guess, Lord Poseidon's anger just sunk an island?" asked Dike while shaking her head, both her father Zeus and her uncle could be irresponsible with they powers when angry.

"Yes, so much about Atlantis" Kratos answered sighing "they had a nice future in front of them if they would have had the chance to develop more."

"Hopefully will they not destroy the world by the next chapter." Phobos commented as they all turned back to the palace.

* * *

It had taken everyone a good hour to stop yelling threats and insults at Gabe who if he would have been alive at this time around would have had a large number of angry divinities and they children thirsting after his blood.

_**"I don't have any cash," I told him.**_

_**He raised a greasy eyebrow.**_

The females shuddered in disgust.

_**Gabe could sniff out money like a bloodhound, which was surprising, since his own smell should've covered up everything else.**_

"His smell!" exclaimed Athena, Annabeth and Malcolm in shock.

"Yes, his disgusting stench was strong enough to hide the scent of a demigod child of the Big Three." Nathan said in a tight tone, no one hurt a praetor of Camp Jupiter and got away with it.

Everyone looked grimly at this when they realized what that meant.

"She is a good mother." Hera said as she looked over at Amphitrite who nodded.

_**"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"**_

No one noticed the smirk on Enysswe's and Henry's lips as they remembered just how useful Eddie will become in the future.

_**Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy. "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."**_

"At least one of them has a little sense in them." growled Demeter, she was so angry that she didn't even start saying anything about cereals.

_**"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.**_

_**Eddie scowled into his bowl of pretzels.**_

This time Hades noticed the smirks on the lips of his two grandchildren and wondered what type of punishment he had given this sorry excuse of a mortal.

_**The other two guys passed gas in harmony.**_

There were many sounds of disgust.

_**"Fine," I said. I dug a wad of dollars out of my pocket and threw the money on the table. "I hope you lose."**_

"I may have a chat with Tyche and between the two of us will he never win a cent in his entire miserable life again." Dionysus growled out at which Dakota beamed at his dad who returned the smile with a smirk.

"Count me in D, he will be spending a good deal of time escaping from thieves in the future." Hermes threatened much to the delight of his children while Hera glared at Zeus, challenging him to say something about Gods not being allowed to interfere with the affairs of mortals or they demigod children, they are doing it anyway him included.

_**"Your report card came, brain boy!" he shouted after me. "I wouldn't act so snooty!"**_

"Oh, please I bet that he only barely scrapped the line which allowed him to pass through his grades or his parents bribed him through." snapped Annabeth in the defence of her future husband.

"Should we tell her that she is talking to a book?" Connor asked his brothers.

"If you wish to be gutted then be my guest." Chris answered while Connor looked over at Annabeth and shuddered.

"Nah, I want to live for a while." he answered.

_**I slammed the door to my room, which really wasn't my room. During school months, it was Gabe's "study." He didn't study anything in there except old car magazines, but he loved shoving my stuff in the closet, leaving his muddy boots on my windowsill, and doing his best to make the place smell like his nasty cologne and cigars and stale beer.**_

More angered voices filled the air in both the throne room and outside, Gabe will be in the future wishing to have never been born with all the divinities who had decided to make him they target.

_**I dropped my suitcase on the bed. **_

"Home sweet home." Triton spat sarcastically when he noticed Hercules looking at him. "What?"

"You certainly share your sarcasm Lord Triton." Hercules said before continuing.

_**Home sweet home.**_

There was a new round of laughter going through the room while Triton blushed a darker shade of green at having made the same sarcastic reply as his half-brother.

"Ahh you gotta love sarcasm." Jason said while whipping a tear from the corner of this eyes.

_**Gabe's smell was almost worse than the nightmares about Mrs. Dodds**_

"Alecto will take that as an insult." Hades stated before grinning which made everyone beside his wife back away from him, Persephone herself was also not better then her husband because she had broken out laughing as if hearing a great joke.

"Hades! What have you done to my daughter!" Demeter demanded while glaring at her brother and looking worried at her daughter.

"He had done nothing against me mother" she finally replied after calming down a bit "I was laughing about the fact that when Alecto hears that this man is worse then her and he is already in Punishment then she will go in her every free minute to show him how frightening she can be compared to a mortal." at her explanation was everyone grinning evilly, Gabe would surely get it.

_**or the sound of that old fruit lady's shears snipping the yarn.**_

"My grandaunts found this funny." Enysswe said to the groups.

_**But as soon as I thought that, my legs felt weak.**_

_**I remembered Grover's look of panic—how he'd made me promise I wouldn't go home without him. A sudden chill rolled through me. I felt like someone—something—was looking for me right now, maybe pounding its way up the stairs, growing long, horrible talons.**_

_**Then I heard my mom's voice. "Percy?"**_

"Grandmum." said the Jackson siblings happily while others had little smiles of relief on the faces.

_**She opened the bedroom door, and my fears melted.**_

_**My mother can make me feel good just by walking into the room.**_

"Awww…" coed the females while Jason looked down, he would have liked to know what type of person his mother had been.

Reyna saw the sad look on her co-praetor's face and gently placed her hand on his, giving it a light squeeze to show that she was there for him. Jason smiled at her in gratitude wile Nathan smirked at his parents who seemed to slip into a private little world of they own.

_**Her eyes sparkle and change color in the light. Her smile is as warm as a quilt. She's got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as old. When she looks at me, it's like she's seeing all the good things about me, none of the bad.**_

There were many warm smiles at this both in and outside of the palace, they could certainly imagine her in front of them.

* * *

"She sounds like mom." Eris said as she leaned against her sister, a soft smile on her lips. She might be the Goddess of Strife, but she truly loved her mother and would give anything for her.

"That is true." Nemesis replied while those of they siblings who were also present nodded in agreement, they mother loved and cared for them no matter what they represented, she protected them from the wrath of the other gods because as they mother was it her duty to punish them if they had done something wrong and her punishments were just.

* * *

_**I've never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even me or Gabe.**_

"That woman has certainly patience." Ares commented before spotting the two praetors. "Could someone get them out of they lovey-dovey state please?" he asked making everyone notice that Reyna and Jason were still staring at each other.

"Leave them Ares, this is sooo adorable." chided Aphrodite as she beamed at the pair who finally seemed to have realized that everyone was staring at them and immediately turned away from each other blushing crimson.

"Thank you, now continue punk." Ares said while leaning back in his throne.

_**"Oh, Percy." She hugged me tight. "I can't believe it. You've grown since Christmas!"**_

_**Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She'd brought me a huge bag of "free samples," the way she always did when I came home.**_

"He is soo lucky." whined the Stoll siblings at the thought of free candy while the other boys nodded they heads eagerly, except a still embarrassed Jason that is.

"I'm getting hungry." whined both Apollo and Hermes.

"We will be eating soon." replied Hera while rolling her eyes at the duo.

_**We sat together on the edge of the bed. While I attacked the blueberry sour strings, she ran her hand through my hair and demanded to know everything I hadn't put in my letters. She didn't mention anything about my getting expelled. She didn't seem to care about that. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing all right?**_

"Sounds like a great mother." Hephaestus whispered to Ares who nodded solemnly, he would not mind Hera being more like this while most of the demigods looked envious, but then remembered what they children had told them that she had in a way adopted all of them, this made them smile.

_**I told her she was smothering me, and to lay off and all that, but secretly, I was really, really glad to see her.**_

_**From the other room, Gabe yelled, "Hey, Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?"**_

_**I gritted my teeth.**_

Everyone else in and outside of the throne room did the same thing wishing the worst for that sorry excuse of a human.

"How dare he interrupt a moment between a mother and her child." Hera looked murderous at this and even Hestia and Andromeda glared with hatred.

_**My mom is the nicest lady in the world. She should've been married to a millionaire, not to some jerk like Gabe.**_

"She had now a teacher as her husband and is perfectly happy." Sally said while gritting her teeth, the others nodded in satisfaction.

_**For her sake, I tried to sound upbeat about my last days at Yancy Academy. I told her I wasn't too down about the expulsion. I'd lasted almost the whole year this time. I'd made some new friends. I'd done pretty well in Latin. And honestly, the fights hadn't been as bad as the headmaster said. I liked Yancy Academy. I really did. I put such a good spin on the year, I almost convinced myself.**_

_**I started choking up, thinking about Grover and Mr. Brunner. Even Nancy Bobofit suddenly didn't seem so bad.**_

_**Until that trip to the museum ...**_

_**"What?" my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. "Did something scare you?"**_

_**"No, Mom."**_

_**I felt bad lying. I wanted to tell her about Mrs. Dodds and the three old ladies with the yarn, but I thought it would sound stupid..**_

"Not to her, she can see through the Mist and knows about our world because of this." Michael said.

"The Mist is really strong, but there are a few mortals who can see through it, those people are called 'Clear sighted'." Will added in to the explaining, his mom was one of those people.

"Yes, grandmum Anita can also see through the mist similar to my other two biological grandmothers." Enysswe said while looking at her mother's younger version who turned in her direction when hearing his mother's name.

_**She pursed her lips. She knew I was holding back, but she didn't push me.**_

_**"I have a surprise for you," she said. "We're going to the beach."**_

_**My eyes widened. "Montauk?"**_

_**"Three nights—same cabin."**_

"We love that beach." Luke said, his dad brought them there since he and his sister were babies, his dad had always a smirk on his lips and told them that they cabin was rally special to him, they mom and grandmum, but never elaborated if asked.

"As uncle P's kid you would." Apollo said.

_**"When?"**_

_**She smiled. "As soon as I get changed."**_

_**I couldn't believe it. My mom and I hadn't been to Montauk the last two summers, because Gabe said there wasn't enough money.**_

"Yeah because he spent it all on beer and gambling." Artemis spat in a dark voice, that man better hope that he will never met her or any of her hunters.

_**Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, "Bean dip, Sally? Didn't you hear me?"**_

By all the glares the book got was it a surprise that it hadn't already gone up in flames.

_**I wanted to punch him, but I met my mom's eyes and I understood she was offering me a deal: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.**_

_**I was on my way, honey," she told Gabe. "We were just talking about the trip."**_

_**Gabe's eyes got small. "The trip? You mean you were serious about that?"**_

More growls, muttered threats and dark looks.

_**"I knew it," I muttered. "He won't let us go."**_

_**"Of course he will," my mom said evenly. "Your step father is just worried about money. That's all. Besides," she added, "Gabriel won't have to settle for bean dip. I'll make him enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works."**_

"Bribery." come it from Hermes, his kids and grandkids, they eyes gleaming.

"She should not need bribery to go on a vacation with her son." hissed Amphitrite.

_**Gabe softened a bit. "So this money for your trip ... it comes out of your clothes budget, right?"**_

Both Hephaestus and Ares jumped out of they thrones, covering they ears like everyone else when the sentence fell.

"THAT BASTARD SET A LIMIT ON HER BUDGET FOR CLOTHES AND EXPECTS HER TO SPLIT IT BECAUSE HE WILL NOT GIVE HER ANY TO GO ON A VACATION WITH HER SON! THAT NERVE OF THAT VILE, DISGUSTING, SLIMY ABORMATION OF EVERYTHNIG THAT IS DISGUSTING!" Aphrodite screamed almost hysterical so she didn't notice Enysswe walking up to her, eyes golden, till she had fallen into a slumber. As the goddess fell asleep in her throne was Henry already on his cousin's side and lead her back to where they were sitting, but everyone could see that she was leaning heavily on his and was looking pale.

"Enysswe, are you alright?" Persephone asked worried as she stood up from her throne ready to walk over to her stepgranddaughter.

"She is fine, it only took much energy out of her to calm Aphrodite enough down so that she could put her to sleep." Henry explained as he pulled the pale girl in his lap and held her close, it was as if she had also fallen asleep. "En is probably one of the most powerful under us who belong to the new generation and well you could say that she is kind of a mortal goddess with slightly similar aspects as the huntresses." at this stared everyone wide eyes at the still pale looking girl.

"What do you mean?" Zeus demanded while looking over the other members of the council, a mortal goddess could be either a large help or a great danger, but he didn't voice that for he knew that both his brother and son would immediately attack him and he would also have to deal with the Fates and they mother. He shuddered at the thought of an angered Lady Nyx standing again in front of him.

"Because of how she had been created and being in that state exposed to her parents inherited powers, also the soil she had been made from was given to her great-grandmother by her own father Chaos himself while the water…" at this Henry stopped for a bit ready for the yelling which was about to come" was water from the river Acheron."

"What!" come the screams of shock, if she was truly made out of the soil given by Chaos who had given existence to the beginning of everything and one of the rivers of the Underworld then this certainly would strengthen her inherited powers and set them higher then a demigods.

"Yes, those two were used, but to awaken her…" Henry stopped again hoping that his grandfather would help him out in explaining" was the combination of hellfire and sunlight used." with that he looked over at his grandfather whose eyes showed understanding.

"I see now what you meant by referring to her as a mortal goddess, I think we don't need to elaborate on the properties of sunlight, but not many of you are familiar with hellfire." Hades said while looking over that the group. "Hellfire has the property that it never goes out and burs for all eternity." everyone was listening with wide eyes to the explanation.

"In this contest could it be said that En is immortal and according to her grandaunts will stop aging when she reaches twenty five, beside that has she also the shape shifting ability of her grandfather Hypnos so she can look the age she wishes to be." Misty added in to the explanation while looking worried at her friend signalling to everyone that they are not done and there was still the comment about her being in a slight way similar to Artemis's huntresses who were immortal, but could be killed in battle.

"The only drawback is that the hellfire was never thought to exist in a living thing and it is bound to her powers, the more she exhausts herself while using her powers the more the flames and light which had given her life will dimish. If she exhausts herself to much will she need rest, but if she used her powers to a high extent then she usually needs to be in close bodily contact to one of her relatives who are bound to the property which had given her life." Henry finished explaining as everyone understood the ground why he was holding her, but then Hades stepped in front of his grandson.

"Then is it better if you give her to me, in my presence should she be better sooner." he told him and Henry nodded, with him would it take longer for En to recover then if she would be held by either of her two godly grandfathers.

After receiving his granddaughter Hades slowly made his way back to his throne with the sleeping girl in his arms, when passing the demigods could he feel the gaze of Apollo's son on him, he could feel his worry for the girl he will help give life to. Sitting back on the throne he noticed Hestia who was smiling kindly at him, he returned her smile, his sister was the only one of his siblings who didn't act as if he would carry a type of disease.

"I think we should continue reading." Athena said after ten minutes of silence as she watched her brothers returning to they thrones beside the peacefully slumbering goddess, she also noted the worried look Apollo had on his face. She held back a soft smile at how much he cared already for his granddaughter, but there was also the fact which made her frown. Lord Chaos and also Lady Nyx who was his lieutenant rarely took part in anything so why would they help creating such a being like that girl?

"Lady Athena is right, we should continue." Andromeda said and everyone nodded while Perseus gestured for his brother to continue which he did.

_**"Yes, honey," my mother said.**_

_**"And you won't take my car anywhere but there and back."**_

_**"We'll be very careful."**_

_**Gabe scratched his double chin. "Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip ... And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game."**_

"Interrupting it? Percy funded his stupid poker game!" Frank said angrily.

_**Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot, I thought. And make you sing soprano for a week.**_

"Do it." encouraged everyone.

_**But my mom's eyes warned me not to make him mad.**_

_**Why did she put up with this guy? I wanted to scream. Why did she care what he thought?**_

"Because he is the ground why they didn't come sooner for you." Athena said sighing sadly, she never thought that she would feel sorry for one of Poseidon's spawns who was not Triton.

_**"I'm sorry," I muttered. "I'm really sorry I interrupted your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now."**_

_**Gabe's eyes narrowed. His tiny brain was probably trying to detect sarcasm in my statement.**_

_**"Yeah, whatever," he decided.**_

"What an idiot, that sentence was pure sarcasm." Clarisse spat while Athena and her children looked disgusted that someone could be this dumb.

_**He went back to his game.**_

_**"Thank you, Percy," my mom said. "Once we get to Montauk, we'll talk more about... whatever you've forgotten to tell me, okay?"**_

_**For a moment, I thought I saw anxiety in her eyes—the same fear I'd seen in Grover during the bus ride—as if my mom too felt an odd chill in the air.**_

It was this sentence that made it clear for the readers that she really knew what was going.

_**But then her smile returned, and I figured I must have been mistaken. She ruffled my hair and went to make Gabe his seven-layer dip.**_

_**An hour later we were ready to leave.**_

_**Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom's bags to the car.**_

"Would it have killed him to help them?" asked Gwen angrily.

"It is already a wonder that he rolled his fat out of the apartment." Ace said while some sniggered.

"I think we can see now that you are related to us." Travis said while throwing a glance at Chris who blushed and didn't care looking in Clarisse's direction, Ares was also back to glaring.

_**He kept griping and groaning about losing her cooking—and more important, his '78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.**_

Cue hissing, growling and dark looks.

_**"Not a scratch on this car, brain boy," he warned me as I loaded the last bag. "Not one little scratch."**_

"Like he'd be driving he's twelve" Annabeth huffed in annoyance when spotting Hercules giving her an amused look before her turned back to the book.

_**Like I'd be the one driving. I was twelve.**_

Annabeth blushed at this while the others around her broke out laughing about her saying the same thing her future husband thought.

"Wow mom, you don't eve know him, but are already channelling him." Sally said giggling, it was cute how her parents seemed to always know what the other was thinking.

"I don't…I mean…Hercules continue please." she said finally, her blush still present, but she was not sure if it was because of her having said the same thing as Percy or because she was called 'mom' by a girl four years older then her.

_**But that didn't matter to Gabe. If a seagull so much as pooped on his paint job, he'd find a way to blame me.**_

"I will make sure that the seagulls will use that thing as a restroom." Poseidon growled, his sons agreeing whole heartedly with they father.

_**Watching him lumber back toward the apartment building, I got so mad I did something I can't explain. As Gabe reached the doorway, I made the hand gesture I'd seen Grover make on the bus, a sort of warding-off-evil gesture, a clawed hand over my heart, then a shoving movement toward Gabe. The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the stair case as if he'd been shot from a cannon.**_

"That certainly proves it that he was evil or it would have never worked on a mortal." Persephone said as she looked over at her stepgranddaughter who had turned around slightly so that she was now resting her head against her grandfather's chest. It looked as if her husband did the right thing with taking her over from her cousin, the colour was slowly starting to return to her face and her breathing had evened out.

_**Maybe it was just the wind, or some freak accident with the hinges, but I didn't stay long enough to find out.**_

_**I got in the Camaro and told my mom to step on it.**_

At this broke everyone out laughing from the visitors from the future.

"This means that they should get out of there." Octavian told the confused gods while he tried not looking in the direction of his cousin, he still had problems to sort out how he felt about everything here.

_**Our rental cabin**_

"Now completely family property." Luke added in grinning, his dad had brought the cabin three years before Luke had been born.

_**was on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It was a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There was always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets,**_

Athena and her children shuddered at this while Luke and Sally only flinched slightly happy that they arachnophobia was pretty light.

"Don't worry, dad never lets mom enter as long he hasn't discharged any spider in there." Sally said at which Annabeth smiled, that was good to hear that he was considerate about her fears to which her mother grudgily agreed.

_**and most of the time the sea was too cold to swim in.**_

_**I loved the place.**_

"Of course he would." Dakota said, what son of Neptune would not like a beach.

_**We'd been going there since I was a baby. My mom had been going even longer.**_

"It is a kind of family tradition." Sally added in.

_**She never exactly said, but I knew why the beach was special to her. It was the place where she'd met my dad.**_

At hearing this exchanged Luke and Sally gazes with each other, now they knew why they dad was always smiling like that when they went to the cabin, it was in a way nice to know.

_**As we got closer to Montauk, she seemed to grow younger, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea.**_

"It seems as though her life force is the sea." stated Amphitrite, this would explain why her husband had been drawn to this woman.

"It would seem so." Poseidon replied with a small smile on his lips while taking his wife's hand into his which startled her, but brought also a little smile to her lips.

_**We got there at sunset, opened all the cabin's windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work.**_

"What's with the blue food?" Zeus demanded while pointing at his brother. "That is my colour, his is green."

"Father, it is explained here." Hercules said at which Zeus blushed while others started sniggering at him.

_**I guess I should explain the blue food.**_

Everyone nodded while still grinning at a pouting Zeus.

_**See, Gabe had once told my mom there was no such thing. They had this fight, which seemed like a really small thing at the time. But ever since, my mom went out of her way to eat blue. She baked blue birthday cakes. She mixed blueberry smoothies. She bought blue-corn tortilla chips and brought home blue candy from the shop. This—along with keeping her maiden name, Jackson, rather than calling herself Mrs. Ugliano—was proof that she wasn't totally suckered by Gabe. She did have a rebellious streak, like me.**_

"Not exactly uncle Percy, the streak you have is an obedience streak, your rebellious side is more of a river if anything." Nathan said in amusement which made Poseidon groan.

_**When it got dark, we made a fire. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash. She told me about the books she wanted to write someday, when she had enough money to quit the candy shop. **_

_**Eventually, I got up the nerve to ask about what was always on my mind whenever we came to Montauk—my father. Mom's eyes went all misty. I figured she would tell me the same things she always did, but I never got tired of hearing them.**_

_**"He was kind, Percy," she said. "Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle, too. You have his black hair, you know, and his green eyes."**_

All eyes went over to the siblings who easily guessed the question on they minds.

"Our dad and granddad could easily go through as twins, I mean even grandaunt Demeter once called dad Poseidon by accident." Sally explained at which everyone looked wide eyed at Poseidon having now a good clue how his son must look while both Theseus and Orion exchanged a glance. They looked similar to they father, but there were also little differences like the shape of they eyes, bodily building and such.

"Well, at least now you know that you marry a hot looking guy." Katie whispered to a blushing Annabeth who finally looked away from the Sea God.

_**Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. "I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud."**_

"Oh, that he certainly is, but would have preferred fever heart attacks for that feeling." stated Luke and his grandfather paled as he remembered what some of the bets during Tournament Week were about.

_**I wondered how she could say that. What was so great about me? A dyslexic, hyperactive boy with a D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years.**_

"Do you want the short, long or fine printed list uncle Percy?" Lance asked.

"Or we could tell this sentence to both camps and your friends will be gladly standing in line to smack you over the head for being an idiot or as they like to put is kelp head." Ace said in a serious tone.

"Is that his nickname?" asked Annabeth.

"Not exactly only one of the most used, though my mom refers to him as Prissy and you call him Seaweed Brain." Ace elaborated.

"Oh great." was her only reply.

"I like the nickname I gave him." Clarisse said grinning.

"You would." Chris muttered carefully so that she doesn't hear him, he still tried to figure out how they ended up together, he had never exactly looked at Clarisse like a girl.

_**"How old was I?" I asked. "I mean ... when he left?"**_

_**She watched the flames. "He was only with me for one summer, Percy. Right here at this beach. This cabin."**_

_**"But... he knew me as a baby."**_

_**"No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born."**_

"I think you visited him brother when his mother was not at home." Hestia said softly at which Poseidon nodded.

_**I tried to square that with the fact that I seemed to remember ... something about my father. A warm glow. A smile.**_

"He would not be able to remember this if it didn't happen." Hestia said again.

_**I had always assumed he knew me as a baby. My mom had never said it outright, but still, I'd felt it must be true. Now, to be told that he'd never even seen me...**_

_**I felt angry at my father. Maybe it was stupid, but I resented him for going on that ocean voyage, for not having the guts to marry my mom. He'd left us, and now we were stuck with Smelly Gabe.**_

"He understands things better now and really loves you grandfather." Sally said when she noticed the sad look on her grandfather's face.

"I'm glad to hear that." Poseidon replied to his granddaughter with a small smile while Amphitrite leaned against him, something she rarely did in the past decades, but it was more then welcome.

_**"Are you going to send me away again?" I asked her. "To another boarding school?"**_

_**She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.**_

_**"I don't know, honey." Her voice was heavy. "I think ... I think we'll have to do something."**_

_**"Because you don't want me around?"**_

Hercules hurried on with reading before Hera could open her mouth.

_**I regretted the words as soon as they were out.**_

_**My mom's eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezed it tight. "Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away."**_

_**Her words reminded me of what Mr. Brunner had said—that it was best for me to leave Yancy.**_

_**"Because I'm not normal," I said.**_

"Well, your dad's a Greek God so that is a given." Jason said, finally over his embarrassment though the look on both Dakota's and Frank's faces told him that they would never let him live down this little episode with Reyna, he didn't even dare looking in Octavian's direction.

_**"You say that as if it's a bad thing, Percy. But you don't realize how important you are. I thought Yancy Academy would be far enough away. I thought you'd finally be safe."**_

_**"Safe from what?"**_

"Monsters and on a number of occasions from your relatives." Theseus said but covered when meeting Dionysus's eyes.

_**She met my eyes, and a flood of memories came back to me—all the weird, scary things that had ever happened to me, some of which I'd tried to forget.**_

_**During third grade, a man in a black trench coat had stalked me on the playground. When the teachers threatened to call the police, he went away growling, but no one believed me when I told them that under his broad-brimmed hat, the man only had one eye, right in the middle of his head.**_

Malcolm grabbed his sister's hand when he saw her flinch, Annabeth smiled at him gratefully.

"He was sent by granddad Poseidon to make sure that dad was fine, because on that day was a group of emposai spotted near that district." Luke explained at which his grandfather nodded, so it had been one of his sons sent by him and not a rough one.

Suddenly Hercules started blinking as he re-read the paragraph in his mind, he could not believe what he saw there, but the letters didn't change.

"Hercules continue." Zeus told his son who nodded reluctantly.

_**Before that—a really early memory. I was in preschool, and a teacher accidentally put me down for a nap in a cot that a snake had slithered into. My mom screamed when she came to pick me up and found me playing with a limp, scaly rope I'd somehow managed to strangle to death with my meaty toddler hands.**_

Everyone who didn't know the story stared gapping at the book.

"Is that not the same what you did Herc?" asked Orion while looking at his cousin who nodded slowly.

"He certainly is a powerful demigod." Perseus said before nudging his brother to continue.

_**In every single school, something creepy had happened, something unsafe, and I was forced to move.**_

_**I knew I should tell my mom about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds at the art museum, about my weird hallucination that I had sliced my math teacher into dust with a sword. But I couldn't make myself tell her. I had a strange feeling the news would end our trip to Montauk, and I didn't want that.**_

"I think your safety is a bit more important then a trip on a beach." Annabeth said, feeling worried that something would happen, even if demigods attracted monsters was this a remarkable thing that he was still alive.

_**"I've tried to keep you as close to me as I could," my mom said. "They told me that was a mistake. But there's only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just... I just can't stand to do it."**_

_**"My father wanted me to go to a special school?"**_

_**"Not a school," she said softly. "A summer camp."**_

"Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter are the only majorly safe places for demigods, well beside they additions New Rome and New Greece." Nathan said when everyone turned to him. "After you guys started getting along had the Romans suggested to build a city not far from camp just like they had made New Rome. They are basically cities populated by demigods, they families and legacies."

"You know it is kind of interesting how in the future there will be enough heroes that they could have they own city." Theseus whispered to his brother and cousin all of them curious to finally hear about the camps.

"New Greece looks great, mum did a good job in designing it." Sally said at which Annabeth turned around in a way which nearly made her brother, who was still holding her hand, fall over.

"I designed it?" she asked in a hopeful voice.

"Of course, who else would they have asked to do the job?" Sally asked as if she would have joked, but Annabeth was to busy smiling to think about it, she will be getting her dram and design a whole city for her family and friends to live in.

"I'm really proud of you Annabeth." Athena said to the girl who nodded eagerly.

_**My head was spinning. Why would my dad—who hadn't even stayed around long enough to see me born— talk to my mom about a summer camp? And if it was so important, why hadn't she ever mentioned it before?**_

_**"I'm sorry, Percy," she said, seeing the look in my eyes. "But I can't talk about it. I—I couldn't send you to that place. It might mean saying good-bye to you for good."**_

_**"For good? But if it's only a summer camp ..."**_

_**She turned toward the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.**_

"Some choose to stay at camp for the whole year." Will said to the gods who nodded in understanding.

_**That night I had a vivid dream.**_

All demigods and legacies flinched, they dreams were rarely pleasant.

"And to make maters more fun has uncle Percy the most weirdest, worst and highly prophetic drams from all." Misty said as everyone flinched again.

_**It was storming on the beach, and two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, were trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.**_

"This sounds bad if they fight reflects itself out in the dreams of a demigod." Triton said while both his mother and aunt grabbed they husband's hands, he hated even thinking it, but he feared that his half-brother was not far from the mark with the last part of his sentence.

_**The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse's muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagles wings.**_

Both brothers flinched as they looked at each other, they had never fought this viciously with each other.

_**As they fought, the ground rumbled, and a monstrous voice chuckled somewhere beneath the earth, goading the animals to fight harder.**_

Everyone slowly turned into Hades's direction who hoped that it was not him, sure he most of the time was angry at his brothers, but he never intended they death.

"_Nugh_…not granddad…mu…much darker…" Enysswe mumbled from her grandfather's lap as she shifted again into a more comfortable position and continued sleeping, the colour had already returned to her face.

"Read further and you will have a guess what she meant." Henry said in a tight voice, it was already starting that people thought that it was his grandfather who wanted war.

"Henry calm down please." Misty whispered into his hear and he nodded, trying to calm himself with the thought that En would be soon fine, that seemed to help him.

_**I ran toward them, knowing I had to stop them from killing each other, but I was running in slow motion.**_

All the gods tensed at these words, no it couldn't be, but didn't the Fates in they letter say that the world was two times plunged into great despair? Most of them looked fearfully at they future children knowing that the letter meant that they who are here had taken a large part in the upcoming two wars, it did not help much that they knew that they had survived because war always leaves behind scars which never heal. They did not know that outside the atmosphere had turned chilly as the minor divinities and nature spirits talked in hushed and frightened voices about what the future would bring.

_**I knew I would be too late. I saw the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse's wide eyes, and I screamed, No!**_

There was a long silence before Hercules continued reading, the tense atmosphere staying around them.

_**I woke with a start.**_

_**Outside, it really was storming, the kind of storm that cracks trees and blows down houses. There was no horse or eagle on the beach, just lightning making false daylight, and twenty-foot waves pounding the dunes like artillery.**_

_**With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, "Hurricane."**_

"She is certainly tied to the sea." Amphitrite mumbled to herself, still scared because what that dream had implied.

_**I knew that was crazy. Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer. But the ocean seemed to have forgotten. Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my hair stand on end.**_

"That doesn't sound good" the tension rose again.

_**Then a much closer noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.**_

_**My mother sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.**_

_**Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn't... he wasn't exactly Grover.**_

Annabeth smiled nervously, Grover had found them, now they only needed to hurry to camp and everything would be fine.

"Ah, the first time you get faces with a satyr." Chris said knowingly, he had nearly jumped out of the window in fright when his keeper had revealed himself to him, looking back at it was the situation quiet funny.

_**"Searching all night," he gasped. "What were you thinking?"**_

_**My mother looked at me in terror—not scared of Grover, but of why he'd come.**_

_**"Percy," she said, shouting to be heard over the rain. "What happened at school? What didn't you tell me?"**_

_**I was frozen, looking at Grover. I couldn't understand what I was seeing.**_

_**"O Zeu kai alloi theoi!" he yelled. "It's right behind me! Didn't you tell her?"**_

"Grover, she would not be on the beach with him if she knew." Annabeth told her friend, worried for all three of them, which was strange seeing that she only knew Grover personally.

"I think Chiron will need to tell Grover to make sure that he keeps an eye on Percy so that they can get to camp sooner." Katie said, her hands clenching her skirt.

_**I was too shocked to register that he'd just cursed in Ancient Greek, and I'd understood him perfectly.**_

_**I was too shocked to wonder how Grover had gotten here by himself in the middle of the night. Because Grover didn't have his pants on— **_

_**and where his legs should be ... where his legs should be ...**_

_**My mom looked at me sternly and talked in a tone she'd never used before: "Percy. Tell me now!"**_

_**I stammered something about the old ladies at the fruit stand, and Mrs. Dodds, and my mom stared at me, her face deathly pale in the flashes of lightning.**_

"Of course she would be in panic because of that." Will said while rolling his eyes, but one could see that he was trying to not show how worried he was, they all were having read Percy's thoughts even if it were only three chapters with this felt most of them as if they would already personally know him.

_**She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, "Get to the car. Both of you. Go!"**_

_**Grover ran for the Camaro—but he wasn't running, exactly. He was trotting, shaking his shaggy hindquarters, and suddenly his story about a muscular disorder in his legs made sense to me. I understood how he could run so fast and still limp when he walked.**_

_**Because where his feet should be, there were no feet. There were cloven hooves.**_

"And this is the end of the chapter." Hercules said while handing the book over to Orion.

"After this chapter will we be having lunch." Hera told the group which nodded before turning back to Orion who flipped the book to the next page.

_To be continued…_


	5. Damaged or new fashion of the Underworld

V. Damaged or new fashion of the Underworld?

'Well, start Orion." Poseidon told his son who was only staring at the title blinking. "Orion?" still no reply he only looked over at his brother, flinched and turned back to the book.

"Allow me." Theseus said as he grabbed the book from his brother, but then he also froze when spotting the title.

"They certainly reacted positive to the title." Nathan whispered sarcastically to Luke who nodded while looking at his uncles who looked now like statues.

"Would someone finally start reading?" demanded Zeus as Perses jumped down from his mother's lap and climbed into Theseus's lap who was still holding the book and was staring at it perplexed.

"The title is _**My Mother Teaches me Bullfighting, **_cool, mum can you do that to?" Perses asked his mother before heading back to her, Andromeda only shook her head at this, face pale.

"Please don't let it be him, please don't let it be him…" Poseidon chanted in worry while Theseus handed the book carefully back to his brother, his face green and worried for his brother, he didn't even notice Dionysus anymore, his mind to far gone.

"Lovely, looks as if young Percy meets my brother-in-law or one should say bull-in-law, courtesy of his own father and defeated before for the first time by one of his brothers." the God said at which everyone who knew the legend or were grasping it had gone slightly pale then green.

"The gods really are in need of new hobbies or anger management classes." Chris whispered to his brothers who nodded.

"Orion, read the chapter." Misty said to the hero who reluctantly nodded, but no words come out of his mouth.

"Are you sure that you have not inherited Charmspeak from your mom?" Lance whispered to Michael who shook his head, but then Gwen looked over at Orion.

"Orion, please start reading the chapter so that we all can hear it, no more gapping." Gwen finished and the hero sat straighter while the girl let out a relieved sigh, she rarely used her inherited ability because she was not the best at it seeing how at the Roman camp you rarely used such abilities.

_**We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the wind shield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas.**_

"Now that is how you're supposed to drive," Ares said grinning while both Apollo and Hephaestus rolled they eyes at him.

"And this is why your chariot always lands in my workshop in pieces." Hephaestus said mentally shuddering at the memories when he gets handed the pile of broken wood and steel which used to be a chariot, sometimes three times in the course of a week. If it was a lucky one that is…

"And this is why you always land in my infirmary in pieces." Apollo added in, by the current stand of things did he not even need to look to know what he needed to reset, bind, clean and disinfect on his brother when he gets brought in.

"You two just don't appreciate the ecstasy of speeding." Ares replied huffing at his siblings before turning to his daughter and grandson. "You two know what I'm talking about." he told them.

"Well, yes we do grandfather" Ace started before his mother could reply "my parents have kind of a new record with getting you and your vehicle into the infirmary and workshop after your accidents." he finished at which Ares blinked at him while both Apollo and Hephaestus high-fived each other, smirking at they brother who was now pouting before Orion started continuing.

_**Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants.**_

There were many laughs while outside the satyrs glared at everyone, a blush on they cheeks.

"I love this guy's thoughts, they are brilliant." Travis said laughing while leaning against his brother who was holding his stomach.

"I agree son, this demigod is brilliant in making others laugh without even trying to do so." Hermes agreed with his son while Aphrodite shifted on her throne mumbling something about _'never coming into trend…'_ and continued sleeping_. _

"That's our dad for you." Luke said proudly, he loved his dad; he was a great person who knew how to cheer people up.

_**But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo— lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal.**_

Everyone bust out laughing at this because it was true while outside the satyrs glared at everyone, but they intent was destroyed by the blush on they cheeks.

"Way to start an awkward conversation little brother." Orion said having clamed down a bit more since getting past the chapter title.

_**All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom... know each other?"**_

There was a new wave of laughter and Hermes was happy that Apollo was not looking worried anymore about his granddaughter though he understood his brother, he would also worry about his family even if they aren't born yet. To be kind of honest from them all was it Apollo who tended to be the most protective to his children so he should not be surprised that he would worry about his granddaughter.

"Only uncle Percy would say such a thing in that kind of situation." Misty brought out fondly as she gripped her stomach while rolling on the floor.

"I really want to meet him." Travis laughed gleefully.

It took everyone a good three more minutes to clam down enough so that the reading could continue.

_**Graver's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you."**_

"Grover, this will only make a person assume that you are a stalker." Annabeth said shaking her head at her friend.

"Well, there is good ground for the parse _"pulling a Grover"_." Sally said in a thoughtful tone while her mother facepalmed as her friends broke out laughing.

"Satyrs." Dionysus said with a fond smile on his lips.

"Your dad seems to really like fauns." Gwen whispered to Dakota who nodded, he had noticed it already and decided to talk with Reyna about her plan regards her idea she said she had regards finding an use for the fauns around camp. If his dad had a fondness for them then should his son take part in trying to improve they condition, maybe the Greeks could give them some tips in that department, it was worth a shoot.

_**"Watching me?"**_

_**"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I **__**am **__**your friend."**_

"Sorry uncle Grover, but you are not dad's friend." Luke said with a shake of his head.

"But…" Annabeth was about to say something, but Luke continued grinning.

"You are actually his best friend." he said which made his young mother close her mouth again blushing, but she smiled that Percy will see Grover as his best friend. That was nice of him.

_**"Urn ... what **__**are **__**you, exactly?"**_

_**"That doesn't matter right now."**_

_**"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—"**_

Everyone flinched while outside the satyrs got restrained thanks to the Keres threatening them that they will gladly escort them to Tartaros if they don't sit back.

"Ugh…you only say that if you want to experience what a stampede feels like." the Stoll brothers said flinching while Hermes looked at them wide eyed.

"Boys, why would you say such a stupid thing with your oldest brother being Pan?" he asked incredulously so he missed the legacies flinch, but Athena and her children saw them and wondered what it could mean.

"Sorry dad, it was a stupid dare we needed to do tanks to the Aphrodite cabin." Travis said while looking down, not meeting his father's eyes.

"We were playing a game of truth or dare between the cabins in camp and we kind of dared one of them to burn a bag of makeup" at this the sleeping Aphrodite let out a sound as if having a nightmare, but continued sleeping "so they took revenge on us." Connor explained his gaze also on the ground.

"I understand boys, but the next time be a bit more careful." Hermes said with a little smile on his lips as he looked at his sons not liking that they didn't dare looking at him.

"Will do dad." they replied still a bit unsure, they rarely saw they dad so guessing his reactions was hard to them, but they all knew how much he loved Pan who in they time had been missing since long decades.

_**Grover let out a sharp, throaty **__**"Blaa-ha-ha!"**_

_**I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. **_

_**Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat.**_

_**"Goat!" he cried.**_

"Didn't he say that it didn't matter?" Malcolm said not understanding the logic in first saying that it didn't matter then acting as if it does. The others only shrugged.

_**"What?"**_

_**"I'm a **__**goat **__**from the waist down."**_

_**"You just said it didn't matter."**_

_**"Blaa-ha-ha!**__**There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!"**_

_**"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?"**_

"Yup, though they kind of part of your reality and not myths." Frank said, the poor guy will be slightly overwhelmed by all of this.

_**"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a **__**myth, **__**Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?"**_

_**"So you **__**admit **__**there was a Mrs. Dodds!"**_

"Why is he so adamant about that?" Jason asked confused.

"You would also if you thought for nearly the whole duration of a year that you have lost it." Henry explained to the blonde.

"If you put it that way, yes I would probably act the same way." Jason replied with a sheepish smile on his lips.

"The funny thing is, he is still referring to her as Mrs. Dodds, even though he knows that her name is Alecto." Lance said in amusement.

"Well, she kind of got used to it." Henry answered while some of the others tried to decide if the should shake they heads or be amused.

"He is pretty stubborn about that, though stubbornness is a family trait." Theseus said with a small smile on his lips, it helped to not concentrate about the fact that his little brother will soon face the same beast he did, but unlike him had he been older and had training and he feared the minotaur will not be happy to see a Son of Poseidon.

_**"Of course."**_

_**"Then why—"**_

_**"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are."**_

_**"Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?"**_

"Grover, you are confusing him." Annabeth said sighing, it would be better if he explained it better to Percy at this time.

_**The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail.**_

The atmosphere tensed, Poseidon went back to his muttering while Theseus buried his fingers into the cushions of the couch he was sitting on.

_**"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety."**_

_**"Safety from what? Who's after me?"**_

_**"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions."**_

At this everyone turned to Hades in confusion while Henry let out an angry huff, but it was not directed at his grandfather, En shifted again while both Persephone and Apollo had annoyed looks on they faces.

"Way to start his first impression uncle Grover." Henry finally said in an annoyed tone, at least he knew that uncle Percy had a type of understanding for him, but still. Misty was again patting him on the back, she knew how protective they were about they grandfather.

_**"Grover!"**_

_**"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?"**_

_**I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird.**_

"Well, till now was your mind pretty entertaining Perce so I'm not sure about that no imagination thing." Chris said in an attempt to diffuse the tense atmosphere, it seemed to work because some started sniggering while others looked amused.

_**My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened **_

_**farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences.**_

_**"Where are we going?" I asked.**_

_**"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you."**_

_**"The place you didn't want me to go."**_

_**"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger."**_

_**"Because some old ladies cut yarn."**_

_**"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die."**_

"Way to explain without frightening someone." Clarisse said with a shake of her head, that guy will make a fool of himself in camp if this continues.

_**"Whoa. You said 'you.'"**_

_**"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'"**_

_**"You meant 'you.' As in **__**me.**__**"**_

_**"I meant **__**you, **__**like 'someone.' Not you, **__**you.**__**"**_

_**"Boys!" my mom said.**_

"Thank you for stopping that pointless argument." Amphitrite said, now was the boy even more confused then before.

"It would have been really nice if someone would have explained to him what is going on." Sally said, she knew that her dad could be slightly slow in some cases, but it was worse when he was confused.

_**She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm.**_

_**"What was that?" I asked.**_

_**"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question.**_

_**"Another mile. Please. Please. Please."**_

_**I didn't know where **__**there **__**was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive.**_

_**Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really **__**hadn't **__**been human. She'd meant to kill me.**_

The atmosphere got even worse, they knew that it was futile hope that Percy would make it to the camp without a fight with one of the most dangerous monsters a hero could face. Poseidon himself was already cursing himself in his mind for being so stupid because of sacrifice that he had let this beast be born.

_**Then I thought about Mr. Brunner ... and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling **__**boom!, **__**and our car exploded.**_

"WHAT!" screamed everyone while the legacies glared at Zeus who noticed they looks having a good guess what had happened, making him glump.

_**I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.**_

_**I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow."**_

"He made those descriptions and that is the only thing he can say?" Athena asked in a stunned tone while looking at the book.

"As said, dad is kind of different even by demigod standards." Luke said to his grandmother.

"You can say that again." Athena replied.

_**"Percy!" my mom shouted.**_

_**"I'm okay..."**_

_**I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. **_

_**The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in.**_

Orion tensed and threw a short, angered look at Zeus, his brother was only twelve for gods shake!

_**Lightning. That was the only explanation.**_

"DAD!" both Jason and Perseus yelled in indignation, the former because he did not understand why his dad was attacking his nephew who didn't know about anything while the later had started to see a few things differently since he had a child of his own.

"ZEUS!" Poseidon screamed in rage, it was one thing that Hades sent monsters after his son, but at least did he not personally go after Percy unlike his little brother, it was Triton, Ares, Hermes and Apollo who forced him back on his throne.

"Can't you leave that boy alone?" Hera demanded from her husband who did his best to not look his scowling family in the eyes. "Orion continue." she told the hero who nodded and continued reading in a tight tone.

_**We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!"**_

The demigods who knew the satyr looked worried, even Clarisse, though she didn't let it show seeing how she had to hold up a reputation.

_**He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die!**_

There were some half smiles at this while outside the satyrs had fully forgiven Percy for his earlier _'donkey'_ comment because of his care for one of they kinsmen.

"It is nice to hear that he cares about his friend no matter the situation or differences." Persephone said, there were not many heroes who were like that.

_**Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope.**_

The Greek demigods started smiling in relief, yes it was fine if Grover was mentioning food. The others meanwhile looked a bit confused, but guessed that if this faun mentioned food then this meant that he was kind of fine or not in a too bad condition.

_**"Percy," my mother said, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered.**_

_**I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns.**_

"Oh no, it _is_ him." Poseidon and Theseus groaned while everyone started gripping the seats in worry and fear.

"You all really need new hobbies" Nathan said while looking at the gods "or at least stop creating monsters, are Echidna's children not enough?" he asked it would have saved everyone from many dangerous situations if they would have not turned people into monsters or made them fall for animals which resulted in them.

"Agreed, at least has grandmother Persephone found a less dangerous changing alternative." Henry said while looking at his grandmother who blushed at the sudden looks of the other gods.

"Why do I have the unsettling feeling that this warning comes because of experience with them." Athena said in a fearful tone, she did not receive an answer which confirmed her and the other gods fears for they were not all looking with worry and guilt at they future children.

"Orion." he didn't look up to find out who said his name, he knew that he should continue.

_**I swallowed hard. "Who is—"**_

_**"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."**_

_**My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking.**_

_**"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy—you have to run. Do you see that big tree?"**_

Those who knew the story behind the tree flinched making the Roman demigods and those from the past look at they saddened expressions with uneasiness.

_**"What?"**_

_**Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.**_

The future legacies tried to not show they amusement that they dad/uncle had called his cousin a Christmas tree while the Stolls had small smiles on they lips before Katie wacked them over the head. She had a good guess that they wanted to decorate the tree for Christmas.

_**"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."**_

"She certainly does know much about our world." Will said in a slightly stunned tone, the others nodded in agreement.

_**"Mom, you're coming too."**_

_**Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean.**_

"Mortals can't cross through the borders." Katie said saddly.

_**"No!" I shouted. "You **__**are **__**coming with me. Help me carry Grover."**_

_**"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder.**_

_**The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he **__**couldn't **__**be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns …**_

Both Poseidon and Theseus looked about to be sick with every little sentence, Orion could only do so much to rub circles on his brother's back while continuing to read while Amphitrite went to comfort her husband who was about to prove that a God _can_ get a heart attack. The kids from camp Half-Blood meanwhile exchanged scared glances, this was going to happen in one and a half year in they time, somehow they found this unsettling and hoped that they will notice and come to help.

_**"He doesn't want **__**us**__**," my mother told me. "He wants **__**you. **__**Besides, I can't cross the property line."**_

_**"But..."**_

_**"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please."**_

_**I got mad, then—mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull.**_

_**I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom."**_

_**"I told you—"**_

_**"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover."**_

"He is loyal to his mother." Hera said in a soft tone, this demigod was definitely not like most heroes she had seen.

"He is definitely something new." Artemis agreed which made Orion feel somewhat jealous while Hercules squirmed in his seat by the dark look the goddess was giving him, hoping that she would not use her arrows.

_**I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid.**_

_**Together, we draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass.**_

"Looks like that some things don't change." Connor said in a new attempt to raise the mood.

"Someone should cut that grass." Demeter said in a stunned tone, waist-high, really?

_**Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of **__**Muscle Man **__**magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He**_

Orion suddenly stopped reading to look at his brother carefully, as if trying to figure out how to ask him something.

"What?" Theseus asked in a tight tone, he was trying not to imagine that beast attacking his little brother in a revenge for what he had done with it. Orion didn't answer at first, but looked again at the book, then back at his brother before blurting out his question in a way which reminded Luke and Sally at they dad.

"Was the minotaur naked when you fought it?" he asked which made his brother pull a bit away from him, a slight blush on his cheeks while most of the others looked over at Poseidon.

"What is it with this question?" Theseus asked.

"Just answer." Orion said at which Theseus nodded still not understanding why his idiot of a half-brother asked.

"Only wanted to make sure." Orion replied to the perplexed group before returning his attention to the book, leaving Theseus to fight down his blush about having to answer a question if the monster he fought was naked or not. _'Damn, Orion could have phased this less embarrassing.'_ he thought in dismay.

_**He wore no clothes except under wear—**_

Everyone stared blinking at the book if they had heard right.

"Orion, could you repeat that?" Perseus asked his cousin.

_**He wore no clothes except under wear—**_

Ok, the still heard the same.

_**I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—**_

Everyone slowly turned in Hades's direction, they gazes questioning and saying the same thing _"What in your name is happening down there in the Underworld!?". _

"You know that he isn't doing this at the given time, right?" Hades asked feeling kind of freaked out about the strange fashion sense of the monster, a loincloth he could understand, but that didn't sound like one.

"Uhm… we kind of suspect that some monsters are kind of experiencing the after-effects from to many head wounds caused by heroes during the ages." Henry explained the theory his family had about the monsters who seemed to have developed some type of disturbing fashion sense, he also found it good to not mention that some of the emposai had now resulted to slither around down there dressed with a bright pink bra.

"Wonderful, brain damaged monsters, just what I needed down there." Hades groaned, but referred himself from throwing his arms in the air seeing that Enysswe was still sleeping in his lap.

"Well, at least are we not in danger to see our subjects develop a strange fashion sense." Poseidon whispered to Zeus who nodded to his brother slightly relieved.

_**which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders.**_

_**His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener.**_

"Percy, not helping!" Theseus whined as he was assaulted by bad memories about his experience in the labyrinth with that thing.

"Nah, the boy is helping just perfectly." Dionysus replied wickedly, the more that cursed hero was suffering the better while those who knew him looked worried, one could now understand why he was also the God of Madness.

* * *

"Ariadne, are you feeling alright?" Arete asked her friend who had gone slightly pale. The two of them were sitting in the shade of a large olive tree as they listened to the book.

"Yes, I'm fine Arete, you don't need to worry about me it is just that hearing again about my half-brother as he goes against another Son of Poseidon…" her voice trailed of as she tried to push away her old hurt of being abandoned in such a cruel way.

"Hey, cheer up it is in the past." she was angry at that mortal to hurt her friend like that, no girl deserves to be treated like that after they have literally sacrificed everything for them.

"I know and in the end it kind of turned out alright, I mean now I have Dionysus." Ariadne replied with a little blush on her cheeks remembering how kind and patient the god had been with her, listening to her heartbroken rants, holding her as he cried even thought he was not sure how to deal with a crying woman, like most men. He had even went to the Underworld for her and made his father decide to give her immortality while the man who had hurt her would one day be no more.

"You are blushing, is that because a certain Olympian?" Arete asked teasingly which only made the young goddess blush even more before she suddenly tensed.

"Theseus doesn't know that I have died and made a goddess." she said suddenly, she knew that he was here, she had recogrinaized his voice, as much as she was angry and disappointed with him she didn't wish for her husband to turn him into wine grapes.

"And who cares Aria? You worry to much about things, now relax and listen to the book, while king of trying to ignore the strange fashion sense your brother has developed." at this Ariadne let out a little laugh.

"He surely is dressing strangely." she replied, her gaze on the palace. _"Dionysus, please don't do anything rash."_

* * *

_**I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real.**_

_**I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—"**_

_**"Pasiphae's son," my mother said.**_

"Poseidon, how did you manage to find such a intelligent woman as a lover?" Athena asked, ignoring the annoyed look from both Orion and Theseus at the implication that they mothers were dumb while outside Ariadne tensed when hearing the name of her mother.

"I have my charm." he replied while looking carefully at his wife, but she was busy smirking at the expression of his present sons to notice him, Triton only rolled his eyes at both of his parents, though he was also amused by the looks of his half-brothers.

_**"I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you."**_

"This will reassure him, alright." Reyna said, since listening to the books was it getting harder and harder for her to imagine that this person had destroyed her home out of ill intent.

_**"But he's the Min—"**_

_**"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power."**_

_**The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least.**_

_**I glanced behind me again.**_

_**The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. "Food?" Grover moaned.**_

_**"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?"**_

"He relies on smell because both his eyesight and hearing are terrible." Theseus said carefully as he remembered what Ariadne had told him, maybe he should really apologize to her, but the problem was that he had no clue where she was and it would be suicide to ask Dionysus not knowing that she was just outside explaining her brother's bad senses.

_**"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough."**_

_**As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded.**_

The legacies grinning in amusement which made the others stare in confusion at them.

_**Not a scratch, **__**I remembered Gabe saying.**_

Now were also the others looking amused, that scum deserved it.

_**Oops.**_

And this was the cue for everyone to break out laughing knowing that the rest of the chapter might not be a laughing matter for them so they used the last chance for amusement.

_**"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?"**__**.**_

"Wow, Percy's mom certainly had her facts together." Chris said while the others nodded just as stunned as him.

"She is certainly a strong and intelligent woman." Hera said, this was certainly the type of woman who makes a good mother.

_**"How do you know all this?"**_

_**"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."**_

"There is nothing selfish if one loves they child and wishes to keep them close no matter the danger." Andromeda said softly, stroking through her son's hair who leaned back against his mother.

"I agree with the young princess, her actions were in no way selfish." Hera agreed with her stepdaughter-in-law while some of the demigods were again feeling a bit jealous that Percy had the chance to have such a loving mother who knew what was going on, but still hadn't pushed her son away.

_**"Keeping me near you? But—"**_

_**Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill.**_

_**He'd smelled us.**_

Heavy tension and fear had fallen over everything, sure they knew that they would be fine, but still who knew what had happened to them, how much were they hurt before the danger was over?

_**The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter.**_

_**The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us.**_

_**My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said."**_

Poseidon was close to hyperventilating while Hercules was sure that his cousin would any second now managed to create finger shaped holes in the fabric of the couch they were sitting on if he continued gripping it like that.

_**I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. **_

"Well… if he knows who your dad is and he surely still remembers your brother…"

"Apollo!"

"Sorry, was only trying to be helpful." the god said sheepishly.

"In what, helping uncle Poseidon receive a heart attack sooner?" Artemis asked her brother who looked guiltily.

_**He reeked like rotten meat.**_

Everyone wrinkled they nose at this.

"He certainly does." Luke whispered to his sister who nodded in agreement with her brother.

_**He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.**_

_**The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing.**_

_**So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side.**_

"Not bad." Clarisse said while her father grinned.

"Finally some real action." he said which earned him a cold shower, scorching, two arrows on either side of his hair and a pack of angry owls.

_**The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass.**_

"No!" everyone gasped in horror, not even noticing the ripping sound when Theseus managed to create ten holes in the couch.

_**We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it.**_

_**The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover.**_

The girls were having tears in they eyes while the boys looked at them awkwardly, not fully knowing what exactly to do. The tension was tick, Poseidon was gripping his wife as if she would be a lifeline while mumbling apologies, Theseus looked to be stuck between throwing up and fainting, neither option being all to reassuring.

"She is a brave woman…" Artemis said silently, even if she was not a maiden, she was showing every personality trait admirable in a woman.

_**"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!"**_

_**But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air.**_

"NO!" everyone screamed, the girls and some of the goddesses were now fully crying, even Aphrodite's cheeks were stained by tears and Hades made himself ready to give his granddaughter over to his wife before the others attack him in they anger, so that she would not get hurt.

_**"Mom!"**_

_**She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!"**_

"She still tries to save him." Annabeth choked out between her tears, her mother-in-law had for forever gained her respect for doing anything to be there for her demigod child no matter what, now she could fully understand why she was reaching out to all of them, trying to help them gain hold with they families.

_**Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and she was simply ... gone.**_

There was a cold silence only broken by the sound of crying, no one could understand how she could be alive if the Minotaur had killed her, they were all saddened. It took ten minutes before Poseidon flashed his eyes at his brother who was ready to give his granddaughter to Persephone before his brother charged, but then suddenly Sally appeared on his side and gave the stunned god a hug.

"Thank you for making sure that grandmum lives." Sally said, not caring that they will do a spoiler it seemed that everyone missed what the last sentence implied and it would do no good if En would exhaust her powers again shortly after getting them restored. Well the last sentence was missed inside, but outside were Thanatos's siblings giving the others and explanation about they theory.

"Huh?" Hermes and Apollo asked, the later stuck between being angry, but also wishing to keep his uncle safe.

"Tell me, since when do mortals die in a flash with they bodies disappearing?" Henry asked testily, his hands balled into fists.

"Ne… you mean that she had been brought into the Underworld before she was killed." Athena said in realization, why had she not notice this. Now she understood why her granddaughter had thanked Hades, if he didn't bring her into his domain then she would surely have died.

"Try to not jump to early conclusions till you have all facts together." Sally said as she gave the Lord of the Dead a last glance before going back to her fiends, pleased that they understood and that her grandfather had at least relaxed about that one an would not attempt attacking his brother.

_**"No!"**_

_**Anger replaced my fear.**_

"Uh-huh…" Lance said.

"What is it?" Malcolm asked, a bit more relieved now that his sister had stopped crying.

"Well, uncle Percy is worse then any monster if one dares to hurt one of those he cares about." Michael explained while gesturing for Orion to continue reading.

_**Newfound strength burned in my limbs—the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons.**__._

They could all clearly remember what he did with the Fury, but they were still worried, but it was good that he was not scared anymore even though anger was also not the best emotion to have in a fight, it clouds your senses, but it was better then binding fear.

_**The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.**_

_**I couldn't allow that.**_

_**I stripped off my red rain jacket.**_

_**"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"**_

"He is in desperate need for better insults." Travis said carefully in an attempt to lift the mood, but was ignored as everyone wanted to know how this will end.

_**"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists.**_

_**I had an idea—**_

"Ugh…" the legacies flinched together with everyone who remembered they comment regards Percy's ideas.

_**a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all.**_

"Good, his stupid ideas are usually the ones which keep one alive, not unharmed, but alive." Luke said with relief, not that he helped easing everyone's nerves to much, both his grandfather and uncle Theseus looked to be in desperate need for calming medication or a good dose of valium.

_**I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment.**_

_**But it didn't happen like that.**_

"Nothing new." all those who knew Percy said in union.

_**The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.**_

_**Time slowed down.**_

"I really hope that this is only an expression." Hephaestus said carefully, but by the pale expressions of his fellow gods was he not so sure.

_**My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.**_

"Err…" there was a stunned silence as Theseus slowly come out from his nerve terror, blinking in confusion.

_**How did I do that?**_

"We are asking us the same question." Jason said, he was staring to be a bit scared what this guy could be capable of after having the proper training if he was already this good only relying unconscious on instincts.

_**I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out.**_

Everyone flinched, that had to hurt.

_**The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils.**_

Cue sounds of disgust, mostly from the females.

_**The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.**_

_**Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.**_

_**"Food!" Grover moaned.**_

_**The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light,**__**and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might.**_

"That won't help." Hercules said, but regretted it immediately by the glares he received by most occupants of the throne room.

"I doubt that cousin." Orion said suddenly blinking as he read the next line in the book, they were close to the end of the chapter luckily.

_**The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—**__**snap!**_

There was again a stunned silence.

"He...he..." Hercules was at loos of words, how was this possible?

"Wow, he broke his horn." Travis said with wide eyes.

"A good spoil of war." Ares said after getting back to his senses, the kid started to interest him.

_**The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.**_

_**The monster charged.**_

_**Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage.**_

_**The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart.**_

A round of cheering went around on the whole of Olymphos when the surprise had died down.

"He killed the Minotaur with its own horn, while he had no training and was only twelve…" Theseus said in a stunned tone as he tried to progress that he had been bested by his little brother.

"He is a powerful demigod, who could either be a great help or a danger." Zeus mused frowning, he didn't like this.

"And it seems that he will be a great help for us." Hera told him after hearing her husband.

"What is our guarantee that he will not turn against us?" Zeus asked stubbornly.

"You could start fining something other to went your anger out then the mortals, that might be a good start." she told him in a tone which indicated to drop the subject and listen.

_**The monster was gone.**_

_**The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open.**_

Both Zeus and Athena flinched; they perfectly knew how that felt.

_**I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farm house.**_

"He is really a good friend." Katie said with a small smile, at least they knew that Mrs. Jackson will be fine in the end and for now the danger was over.

_**I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover—I wasn't going to let him go.**_

_**The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.**_

Annabeth blushed crimson when all eyes turned to her after her children nodded in confirmation. She was not used to people calling her princess, even in they thoughts, the owls called her milady and that was certainly different then being referred to as a princess by a boy who didn't know her.

_**They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "He's the one. He must be."**_

Annabeth's blush only deepened when all around her everyone broke out laughing and even some of the gods while her mother looked conflicted out of understandable reasons.

"Wow, Annabeth love at first sight?" Katie asked her friend who buried her head in her hands.

_**"Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside."**_

"This was the end of the chapter." Orion said while looking around the room.

"Someone please wake Aphrodite up, we are going to have lunch now." Hera said standing up while Hades carefully nudged his granddaughter to wake her up so that she doesn't leave out the meal.

_To be continued… _


	6. Have you lost your mind!

A/N: so here is the new chapter for those who like the story also more guests arrive to the reading to make things more interesting and finally I can cross two points out from my '_**Need to be in it' **_list, only forty-one more points to go if I don't add anything new to it so that I don't forget the idea. I think you will easily figure out which parts stood on my list, also comments are appreciated as are suggestions, if they fit in with the raw layout of the story I might end up using them so don't be shy.

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VI. Have you lost your mind!

After getting both Enysswe and Aphrodite to wake up from they little slumber and filling the later in about what she missed, made everyone they way through the long halls of the palace inside the large kitchen. At Hestia's suggestion separated everyone into groups of parent-demigod-legacy while Hestia sat at a small table with Artemis and Reyna, seeing how the gods didn't know that the minor divinities knew about the books and didn't want to freak Enyo out. Also even though Zeus was the father of said goddess had Reyna decided to sit by the table with the two virgin goddesses. The three started a small conversation about Hestia's and Artemis's roles in the Roman era and how they were as they counterparts Vesta and Diana.

The other groups were kind of in a more awkward situation then them, Apollo needed to be even dragged to they table by his half-sister. At least could he mask that he was close to a nervous breakdown when he was sat down on Hades's right side while Persephone sat on his left with Frank, he was dragged there by his son, Henry, Enysswe, Octavian and Will facing them.

"So children, from what we have gathered in the future there are two camps and the same number of cities populated by demigods and they children." Persephone started in hopes to break the ice, it confused her that Apollo was so unusually quiet and she even needed to make him sit with them. She will need to later interrogate him about what his problem with her husband was, she always gathered that he didn't have so much against him like most of the others so what was his problem now?

"That is true Lady Persephone, but to be honest we kind of were not aware about the fact that there were two camps, all of us were kind of told that San Francisco was a dangerous place for demigods because of the strong mist surrounding the city and the high amount of monsters running around." Will explained while they tellers filled with food, they were told by they parents that they can freely eat which confused the Romans, but they didn't ask.

"The same goes for us, but we never got an actual place, we were told that San Francisco was the only safe place for us demigods and that leaving New Rome and Camp Jupiter would be dangerous." Octavian supplied from beside his uncle, he was feeling extremely awkward with sitting at the same table as three gods, four if he counts his cousin as one, but this was something not even his great-grandfather had done, he only saw his father once for two minutes and no more.

"I see." Hades spoke up as he took a sip from his goblet before he looked at his grandchildren, a small smile on his lips which made all beside his wife and grandchildren freeze down in stunned silence. "I'm glad to see that my children seem to be accepted somewhat more in the future." he said and Apollo remembered the only time in the past he had seen his uncle smile softly, but refrained from scowling when in the memory a dark hired girl appeared with a flower wreath on her head running up to the God with a rose between her small hands.

"It still took some time though grandfather." Henry said as he glanced at Enysswe who continued for him.

"Of course Camp Jupiter is using cohorts which place you based on your credential letters from relatives or peers and your skills, but there are temples for all gods and goddesses, though your temple was in the past also kind of feared" at this both legacies smiled with they grandparents they knew why that was. "In the case of Camp Half-Blood was it uncle Percy who made them realize a few things which went wrong and that you are not like how people like to portray you, though is it funny that in Rome both you and Poseidon are the ones about whom all are the most vary." En replied to a nodding Hades who smirked at the thought of Poseidon and him in the same category, but he will not inform his younger brother about that.

"That is fine by me as long as you don't get shunned for your parentage; I think I can deal with most things." Hades said calmly as Will, Octavian and Frank tried to not squirm uncomfortably in they seats in regards if not for the given situation how they would have seen the appearance of a child of Hades/Pluto in they camp, not in the best ways and now two of them are faced with the fact that they will marry such a person.

"We agree." replied both Henry and En smiling before Henry turned to his dad who looked ready to make a run for the hills and attempted to start a conversation about archery.

"There was another thing I would have liked to ask, it is regards the inherited powers of your parents seeing that each of us has a powers which gets inherited in a larger part while there are the rarer ones. I got curious about that when Henry complained about his robes making him look as if he would have robed something you are calling a jewellery store and the way how both of you broke your falls." Hades inquired at which Henry turned for a few seconds back into his direction.

"Those robes nearly weight a ton if one asks me." and with that had he already turned back to his father who looked a bit more calmer and was now attempting to get a hint about who his father was, but only got as an answer that he has relatives present, not helpful.

"Henry's mom tended to tell us that she and dad represent your two spheres of control, she is wealth and he death. To be honest even they names are kind of an interesting indicator to which powers they have inherited. You know that hazel is a kind of tree, but there is also a jewel colour named like that, aunt Hazel has also golden coloured eyes to match her powers, her family name 'Levesque' on the other hand is an old French name meaning 'Bishop' which is a religious rank. Dad's name on the other hand can mean two things which with our family name can give two different aspects." En started explaining at which both Will and Octavian started to listen in more, the later deciding to play safe while they are here, no need to get incriminated, then something occurred to him.

"You said your family name was 'di Angelo', that is Italian for 'of the angels'." Octavian said thoughtfully.

"Our mortal grandmother was Italian and with her being clear sighted dad suspects that she kind of tried to find a fitting name for dad regards who his father was." Enysswe said while Hades took his wife's hand to show her that it was fine.

"I see Nico also is diminutive version of two Italian names which thrive from the Greek" Octavian was careful to not scowl or anything other insulting while saying this "name 'Nikolaos'."

"It means 'victory of the people'" Persephone said while her hand was still holding onto that of her husband's under the table, glad for Hades's hand responding to hers, that made it easier for her to ignore her fears.

"It is also a prefix for 'necro' which on the other hand means 'dead.'" Henry added in at which Will tried to not shake his head, the first meaning of his future lover's name was fine, it didn't sound to bad it was even something positive 'Victory of the people and the angels', yes that was a good, positive meaning, but the other form and what it meant together with his surname? Death of the angels? This sounded really lovely…not, fine he should wait with his option forming, but one could understand his situation there were not many positive things said in history about the children of Hades and he will be marrying one of them! He was not worried about his other lover, how bad could a Child of Sleep be? It might be possible that it would even help to have some peaceful nights without demigod dreams, which was pretty good. Yes he needed to find out more about Nico di Angelo, but further musings were stopped when Persephone spoke up again looking slightly confused.

"Apollo? Do you feel alright, you kind of look as if you have a fever, besides being unusually quiet that is." Persephone said suddenly making all eyes by the table turn to said God.

"Me, nah, I'm the God of both healing and plagues the chances of me getting sick are pretty minimal. I'm only enjoying this delicious roasted chicken so much that I didn't feel like commenting." Apollo said, but Hades looked at him with a raised eyebrow and concern in his dark eyes.

"Apollo, that is not a chicken leg, but your fork." he pointed out to his now blushing nephew while both Henry and Enysswe exchanged amused glances, knowing perfectly what was wrong with the God, while Octavian looked over at Will silently pleading him to tell him that _'this-is-not-how-he-actually-is'_, but his uncle only mounted back nervously that he is not sure which didn't reassure either Octavian nor Frank who was now contemplating if he really still hoped that Apollo was his dad.

Not that things were any less awkward by the other tables…

Zeus was kind of loss of words about what kind of safe topic he could talk with his sons both present and future, well safe topic which would not end in a lot of arguing. Hera had a better time talking with a still slightly nervous Andromeda about motherhood while Perses munched on his dessert happily, he did not notice the dilemma of some of the adults around him.

Hercules was still glancing nervously in both Artemis's and Enysswe's directions, he could not shake of the feeling that both of them were glancing at him from the corner of they eyes and unfortunately not out of the usual ground women tend to do that. Perseus and Jason were not sure what to speak about with they father, sure they had always wanted to just sit down at a table and chat, but that was before getting presented by the fact that he will be in the future murdering innocent people and causing they families pain to went down his anger. Later son of Jupiter had also the small problem that he was sitting right beside his own son who had a hard time not to smirk at his father. Both had asked Reyna to sit with them, but she politely declined saying that she wished to have a conversation with Ladies Vesta and Diana. Jason kind of freaked out at that and now also the panicked thoughts of her deciding to join the hunt or the priestess hood re-entered his mind making him go stiff and his lamb started tasting like cardboard.

Well while the feeling of awkwardness stayed by the table was by one the air burning…

Chris Rodriguez would have liked to set one thing clear, when he found out that he had a fifteen years old son, while himself being not even that age, had that freaked him out, finding out that his future wife and mother of said son was no one other then the Daughter of Ares made him want to faint. Sitting at a table with his dad and brothers was kind of nice even Katie and her mum were not all too bad to sit with. Lance and Misty were easy to place as the brother's kids so it was not that bad as he feared, but adding in Clarisse, they son no matter how messed up that sounded, and THE FREAKING WAR GOD HIMSLEF made him want to run for the hills. That is…if there wouldn't be a high chance that he gets run through by a spear before he can do even one step. It didn't help his situation that Ares was glaring daggers at him, the War God and a protective father? A frightening thought and to make things stranger was Clarisse avoiding any type of ayecontact with him, even when they sat down did she make sure that there was at least one person between them. He was not sure if this should bother him or not, but in a way were they both in the same situation, gahh he had no clue what to think or do!

Not far from him was his brother Travis sure that he will have a heart attack, sure he liked Katie, she was fun to prank, but no one warned him that one day all of this would result in a kid for his dad's shake! He failed to notice Hermes raising his eyebrow at him before going back to tune out the whispered conversation between mother and daughter where Katie occasionally threw pleading looks to the table where her older sister sat. Poor thing, she was getting the same talk Persephone gets about her husband and she isn't even married yet. Connor managed to be dragged into a conversation by his daughter and nephew while Ace made an attempt to talk about weapons with his mother which seemed to have been a good idea because she gave in suggestions of her own about what is the most destructive type of firearm. Ugh…he still wondered how his son and her ended up hooking up, beside Aphrodite wanting a new soap-opera to watch, he hoped that Ares would accept this, preferably before maiming him, speaking about his brother, he was fixating Chris with his best death glare.

"Ares, leave Chris alone this all will be in the future, well farther in the future from where they are from." Hermes tried to help out his son before he does a spontaneous combustion, but it turned out that he should have thought about a better plan before opening his mouth.

"Do I look as if I care punk, your kid keeps his hands off of my daughter or I will gut you both slowly with the tip of an arrow to make it more slower and painful." Ares threatened and Chris did everything to not duck under the table, the others were all relocating to the farthest side of the table if something should happen. Chris looked over to his side to see Ace only rolling his eyes as if he was already used to this type of situations, not a positive thought, while Clarisse…was she blushing?

"U…uh…come on Ares, it is no…not that bad…" Hermes continued carefully. "My…my kids are no…not that bad…" again the wrong thing to say.

"Shut up you fluttering punk do you think that I have forgotten _who_ knocked up Aphrodite two times?" Uhuh…Hermes looked over to his kids who were staring at him wide eyed, his sons kind of looked awed and he was about to give them a wink, but Ares continued. "I don't mind waging a war for her with my brother, the smith makes it fun with his clever traps" those sitting by the table were shocked that he actually liked his crippled brother, then such a comment from Ares could be counted as a declaration of brotherly love. "Though you are another case wimp, Tyche was one thing I could have even ignore it sometimes because on occasions are things fun when a side wins the war and take retribution from the losers, more fun for me, but Hermaphroditus?" ok, Hermes was now kind of bet red while most of the kids were giving him looks, mostly his kids, saying _'I'm-the-brother-to-the-personification-of-hermaphrodites'_, that will need to be talked about.

"Erm…wasn't he lovers with a good deal of satyrs and maenads who were female followers of Lord Dionysus?" Katie asked carefully, she was sure that the Stolls and Chris would be fainting any second, but they jumped up looking slightly green and dashed out of the kitchen in the direction of the nearest bathroom with Lance on they heels.

"Dionysus also had a fling with her." Hermes whined when his half-brother started getting closer.

"And whose prank with spiking his drink lead up to that?" at this Hermes's glowing red blush disappeared and was replaced by the colour of white calk as he jumped up and run for his life. "GET BACK HERE YOU PUNK!" Ares screamed after his brother, following him out of the kitchen.

"Don't worry, they will eventually be back." Demeter said sighing before turning to the remaining four children by the table. "Would someone of you like some more cereal?"

"I wonder what got Ares reeled up again that he is hunting after Hermes?" Aphrodite asked absentmindedly as she put in a little pause in her talk with her daughter about how to look good while dressed in armour and armed for battle.

"Well, he took it kind of the wrong way that he gets a daughter and she is married to one of Hermes's kids." Hephaestus told his wife before turning back to his talk about automatons with they grandson, it helped him to not think about the upcoming conversation with his mother, he was really not sure what she wanted to talk with him about. Sometimes he kind of wished that he had at least a bit more inkling about how to deal with organic things and not only machines.

"Muhum, could be it which is just soo adorable that he is playing the protective father of a young girl. The future seems such a wonderful place with many possibilities." Aphrodite said smiling brightly, she had already a lovely list about the feelings she got from the kids, love triangles, denial, and competition for the forbidden, this will be wonderful. Her multicoloured eyes occasionally flicking over to the small table of father and son not far from theirs.

Dionysus and Dakota were at the same time in the middle of a small conversation about his counterpart Bacchus and the pros and cons of Wine types and Kool-Aid, not caring about what the other tables were doing.

At the same time by the last table were both Poseidon and Athena in the middle of a heated glaring match and abuse of they poor food which had no chance against the angry poking of the forks and brutal cuts of silver knives. Luke and Sally were watching the exchange in amusement before the older of the two turned back to his mother who was dying to know more about the city she had designed so needed Luke to go into a detailed description of his mom's work while Sally turned to her uncle seeing how Orion was busy with looking at Artemis as long as her brother was distracted and Theseus was still busy making plans where he should start looking for Ariadne. Uncle Triton was also out because he was talking to his mother who if one looked closely could be seen listening to the conversation between her step-grandson and step-daughter-in-law.

"Say uncle Malcolm" Sally started noting with amusement how her uncle looked somewhat embarrassed at being addressed with that term by a girl slightly older then him.

"Yes?" Malcolm asked carefully, he was feeling kind of awkward sitting so near his niece, he hoped that he wasn't such a fail in the future.

"Before getting here Kelly the head councillor of the Aphrodite cabin told me that they plan to make a Wall of Romance Then and Now for next Valentines Day and they are needing kind of updates about by which age some realized that they have feelings for someone of they fellow demigods. Well seeing how we are kind of here for a while till all books are done and our trip was a secret, so I can't exactly IM people from here so, is there someone at camp who you are interested in?" she asked with a serious face not sure if his uncle had liked his lover already back then or it really took that school year before New Greece was fully finished for him to realize that he loved the other.

"Wha…what do you mean!" Malcolm gasped in panic, nearly falling from his chair while having taken up an unhealthy looking red colour, both things earning himself the notice from his table.

"Malcolm, are you alright?" Athena asked her son with a raised eyebrow for a few seconds forgetting that she was sitting beside her worst rival and apparently father-in-law of her future daughter.

"Is that red even possible for a human to achieve?" Poseidon asked, he was sure if Hades would fill the room with shadows that the boy's face would be glowing bright whatever that shade of red was.

"You asked him about what Kelly had tasked everyone in camp." Luke stated before Annabeth could say something or Athena could snap at Poseidon.

"We need those infos Luke and we can't exactly IM our relatives in the future without someone figuring out where we are." Sally said as Malcolm tried to calm down his wildly beating heart. This was probably the most embarrassing question he had ever heard, there was no one in camp whom interested him in _that_ kind of way.

"I know Sall, but…" suddenly Luke was interrupted when farther from them Enysswe gasped and pulled out a parchment from the pocked of here skirt, it seemed to be glowing.

"What is happening?" Athena asked as all legacies minus the one in the bathroom stood up from they tables and rushed to the mortal goddess, after a few seconds everyone else followed and were looking at the parchment where the light dimmed to reveal a cursive, flowing writing in gold.

"En?" Henry asked his cousin who scanned over the letter before rolling it up again as the words disappeared as if one would have blown them away like powder.

"Grandaunt Clotho sent a message that soon they will be sending some more people here from both of your presents." Enysswe said sighing while putting away the scroll, really they could have told this to them sooner and send everyone together.

"More people and how come the message disappeared?" Orion asked curiously.

"When you got explained about me was it probably forgotten that I'm also a messenger and executive to my grandaunts the Fates, if a message is important it stays on the scroll longer if not it disappears right after I have read it." she explained at which the gods and goddesses nodded carefully, so this was a new thing they need to put on the list regards the girl. First Lord Chaos and Lady Nyx wished and contributed greatly to her birth and after that the Fates made her their personal right hand, they were not sure what either of them was planning with this.

"Then we should head back and continue our reading till the new guests also arrive here." Athena suggested to everyone.

"Before that should someone check up on Hermes's children and also find they father and Ares." Hestia pointed out for the group at which everyone nodded and headed out of the kitchen to do either of the two tasks except two.

Hephaestus knew that he could not avoid this conversation, the ones who had fled to the bathroom all belonged to Hermes and one also to Demeter and there were enough people to hold down his brother from murdering or in the case of the gods seriously maim they brother. Taking a deep breath the God of Smiths looked at his mother, a little bit surprised to see the proud goddess looking unsure at the table, her delicate hands wringed together. If he was honest with himself had he never seen his mother look so anxious and lost about what to do.

Finally Hera looked into her son's eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to not falter in front of the other and to not let him go till she had finished.

"Hephaestus, I know that this comes too late and that you have all right in the world to resent me for what I have done to you." Hera stared and Hephaestus would have loved to point out just how right she was, but something held him back from interrupting. "It is not easy for me or any divinity to admit that they had been in the wrong and nothing can excuse such behaviour of a mother like I had done. When you had been born I…" her voice faltered and choked slightly as if hindered by a sob "…I was in despair when I had seen you, the hate which I had shown at that day and my unforgivable deed were never towards you, but for myself and my own failures. You know that my bonding to Zeus had not been my own option, but you should know how you father is when he is determined to have something." Hephaestus flinched at this, Ares had told him once how they father had gained they mother's hand, not something he liked to remember, neither of the two of them does. "Me being the Goddess of marriage, I needed to marry him after his scheme and with time I started loving him, at that time was I even kind of more forgiving for his many affairs, but then your brother was born and I was terrified that I had brought war into the world." the Smith could not decide if he should feel now amused or pity his older brother that they own mother was scared from him, but he kind of understood Hera did not fear her child, but that what his power represented. "After Ares's birth the number of affairs of your father grew and not only with other divinities, but also with mortals. I was already pregnant with you when he had informed me that Leto had given birth to twins he had fathered. I was angry at him for that and…" here her voice faltered again, face twisting with both guilt and shame "I knew that he was also seeing another person at that time, Maia the mother of Hermes, I snuck after him in disguise to catch him redheaded and to get him to stop sleeping with others while I'm expecting his child. As I followed him on a mountain path, I don't know what really happened, it could have been my tiredness from the pregnancy and the stress, but I slipped and fell." At this Hephaestus flinched again, he hated falling and now he knew that it had happened to him even in his mother's womb. "I was terrified that I had lost you, but there were no indications that you had been hurt by the fall and I snuck back to Olymphos in secret before Zeus returned. He accounced the fact that Maia was pregnant only two days before your birth and then when you were born and I saw you, I knew that your looks were my fault, but it was the same time Apollo and Artemis were brought to the palace to live with us and I…" no more words come as Hera broke down crying, slowly sinking to her knees, hands covering her face as the tears streamed from her eyes.

Hephaestus could only look down at his mother, look down at the Queen of Heavens as she kneeled on the ground sobbing and crying. It was all hard to take in what had brought her to throw him off of Olymphos and he gave her right, forgiving her deed was hard, but seeing her so broken and hearing her reasoning while she didn't ask to be forgiven. Slowly the mismatched God kneeled down, in the back of his mind wondering how things would have been if his father would have stayed faithful at least on the two times his wife had been with child, but he pushed those thoughts away as he gently helped his mother up from the ground and allowed her to cry on his shoulder.

"You had given me always this warm feeling while I was expecting you, as if I would have been constantly near Hestia's heart." Hera whispered a small, sad smile on her lips.

"Mother, you were right that I can't forgive what you have done to me when I was still a baby, but you are still my mother and maybe with time." Hephaestus said awkwardly as he looked into his mother's tear filled eyes stunned when he saw them light up with happiness.

"You are already offering more then I had dared to hope for my son." she said before whipping the tears from her eyes. "Lets find the others so that we can continue reading; I hope that your conversation with your grandson had been pleasant." Hephaestus nodded at this, at least would he be spared from thinking to much about the awkwardness of they situation. While mother and son made they way out of the kitchens he started explaining animatedly about what the two of them had been talking about.

* * *

Half an hour later was everyone again sitting in the throne room while outside the others had also arrived back from they own food break and small discussions about the not long ago read things. The Stoll brothers, Chris and Lance still looked a bit green and accepted the stomach medicine Apollo gave them gratefully before the god went and handed an ice bag to his younger half-brother who sported a nice black eye thanks to his other sibling.

"So, who will be reading the next chapter?" Zeus asked while shaking his head about his family and wondering why Hera looked as if she had been crying.

"I wouldn't mind reading Lord Zeus." Andromeda spoke up carefully and Hercules handed her the book with the correct page. "_**I Play Pinochle With a Horse.**_" just as she finished reading a bright light filled the room followed by screams and the sound of crashing.

When the light dimmed spotted everyone the large pile of fourteen beside which stood a familiar centaur, a large red furred wolf who were both starring with unbelieving eyes at the squirming and cursing pile of teens and a family of four looking frightened. Annabeth tensed when she saw the family and Malcolm's face turned stony. Before anyone in the throne room could even utter a word the she-wolf whipped around and faced the white centaur, one of her paws on her muzzle.

"Per totus filiolus! What is happening here Chiron?" they all heard her voice echo in they heads as if she would be speaking like any normal person, the family looked even more stunned at this. "The Gods made us swear to never let these children meet again, you know what happened the last time?" at this her companion nodded gravely.

"Yes, we got the American Civil War on our hands as they went for each others blood." Chiron answered gravely and the two groups whom were here since a while looked at each other with widened eyes, they had not known that the Civil War with all its deaths and destruction had been their fault mostly that they were getting along fairly well since meeting. The Gods were also shocked that there would be such animosity between the two demigod groups.

"That might be that it never went well, but there is a prophecy which begs to differ from keeping them all separated." called over Sally gaining the notice of the newly arrived groups resulting in more squirming from the pile of hands and legs to show they respect.

"My Lords and Ladies." both Chiron and Lupa said in perfect synchrony as they bowed deeply in front of the Olympians who were all holding back grins and snorts now that they knew with whom Aphrodite's children want to set up the centaur. The match was in its own way an interesting sight and fitting if one went with the fact that both of them seemed to be dedicated to they job with teaching young heroes even if with different methods.

"Stand up the both of you." Zeus commended as both trainers did so finally noticing they missing charges.

"So this is where you have all disappeared to." Chiron said as he trotted over to the Greek demigods who looked at him apologetically.

"It seems as if we have found both our missing pups or in your case foals." Lupa replied with a smirk or as much a wolf could smirk before she turned to the Roman group. "Your disappearance had created some panic by the others, but I told Terminus to take care about that one with the Lares." she continued to the nodding group when there were finally sounds of success behind them.

"It seems as if everyone managed to get untangled." Apollo commented grinning as he winked at one of the members of the group whom he recogrinaised immediately. "Kids, I think you should all introduce yourselves now with names and parent or in one case grandparent, the four who got the bottom should start seeing how they are from here. You need to do this so that our other guests know who you are." he called out as by the family the man tensed when his eyes fell on a familiar woman dressed in a blue and gray Greek style outfit. The teens all nodded after spotting people they were familiar with.

"As you wish" said a blonde man with a cheeky grin on his lips as he bowed which made Hades scowl at the young man and pull Persephone closer which on the other hand made Apollo bite back a disappointed whine. "I'm Orpheus, Son of Apollo." at this both Will and Octavian looked up in interest as did two other people in the standing group while En looked instead in amusement at her grandparents. The second one stepping forth looked older then the others with curly black hair and intense brown eyes at which Athena started squirming in her seat for she also immediately recogrinaized who it was.

"I'm Odysseus, Legacy of Hermes." at this Hermes winked at his grandson before sending his half-sister a cheeky grin which she answered with a glare and a blush on her cheeks. Then come the third person with messy black hair and sea-green eyes, he also bowed just like the other two before him, but before that had he sent a grin to his two brothers even though the strange grins they had on they lips unnerved him slightly.

"Bellerophon, Son of Poseidon." he said before making his way to his brothers who made place for him on the couch they were sitting on, not that it was hard because they father had lengthened it for them so that the new four arrivals could sit by the members of they group while the last one stepped fort this time making Zeus be the one to pull his wife closer and scowl.

"I'm unlike my comrades neither the son or legacy of the Gods only a mortal king, Jason of the Argonauts." the brown haired young man bowed while Hera smiled at him fondly and the other Jason looked up at his namesake.

"Your turn kids seeing how you got kind of thrown back pretty much into the past so those who happen to be Roman, please also the Greek counterpart of you parent or grandparent." Apollo spoke again at which the children exchanged confused glances, but seeing how some of they friends/siblings were present and also they trainers was it probably fine.

"Bobby Rhode, Son of Mercury the Roman equivalent of Hermes." at this all divinities minus two groaned making the boy blink in confusion. "Uh…did I say anything wrong?" he asked unsurely as he looked at the boy with curly blonde hair at his side who only shrugged.

"Don't worry about that Bobby, I think the problem is that with you there are now four of you here, legacies not counted." Jason called over to his friend pointing to the smirking Stoll brothers and Chris.

"Ah, now I get it, sweet." Bobby said grinning as he headed over to his praetors making place for the blonde boy who had stood beside him.

"Felix Jordan, Son of Fortuna my mother's Greek name is Tyche." he finished at which a certain group stiffened again, Ares glared at a blushing Hermes while Aphrodite smiled brightly at her grandson as he made his way to his fellow legionnaires leaving the Greek demigods to start introducing themselves. The first was a beautiful girl with black hair and blue eyes; she bowed gracefully in front of the gods.

"Silena Beauregard, Daughter of Aphrodite." she said looking up to her mother who was beaming at her with happiness, she returned the smile and made her way to her own group, some of the boys staring after her as she passed except by the legacies who were busy to not flinch mostly Ace. After her come a young man with sparkling blue eyes and straight brown hair.

"Mitchell Diamond, Son of Aphrodite." he said before heading to they group and sitting wordlessly and pretty close down beside a stunned Malcolm who blinked at the other so he failed to notice how his nephew and niece tried not to laugh.

The next one was a bulky looking guy with strong arms, he bowed respectfully.

"Charles Beckendorf, Son of Hephaestus." he said which made his father smile while Aphrodite sat up a bit straighter in her seat, kaleidoscope eyes looking at her daughter from who she had felt a spark only a few seconds ago. Could this mean…not even speaking about her son beside one of Athena's children. These kids really want to give her work worth for a good few decades.

"Jake Mason also a Son of Hephaestus." come it from the next boy before he followed his brother so that another boy with blonde hair and brown eyes could take his place closely followed by a blackhead.

"Lee Fletcher, Son of Apollo." Lee said much to the delight of his father and made his way to where his little brother was sitting, but the fact that Will started suddenly blushing made him confused.

"Michael Yew also a Son of Apollo." said the black haired boy who stood behind Lee, his brown eyes slightly lingering on the daughter of Ares while he followed his brother.

The next up were a pair of blonde haired, violet eyed twins who stood beside each other while introducing themselves.

"Pollux and Castor Rouse." Pollux started they introduction.

"Sons of Dionysus." his brother Castor finished for them at which Dakota looked up interested, he had no siblings in camp and meeting two at the same time was kind of nice for him, his father also looked happy at the twins.

"This would only leave four more people who we don't know till now." Athena spoke up as everyone turned to the family, but then she noticed how tense her daughter was and the stormy look her son had taken up after turning away from Aphrodite's son who sat to close to him in her option. "Annabeth, what is wrong my child?" she asked at which the father looked with wide eyes to the group of children who had taken up sitting on a large mat on the ground since the brake ended, Odysseus tensed by her words.

"Annabeth?" the man asked his daughter whom he had not seen since she had run away when she was seven.

"Annabeth?" Athena asked her daughter again feeling concerned for her.

"They…they are my father, my step-mother and half-siblings." Annabeth said with a bitter voice which everyone noted before they eyes widened and the demigods looked scowling to the now flinching man, they had remembered what Annabeth said by the first chapter.

"Introduce yourselves to us and then sit down." Athena said again, but this time in a commanding tone as she let a separated couch for four appear.

"Fredric Chase, my wife Sue and our twins Bobby and Matthew." Fredric finished not liking the cold look Athena was giving him or how Annabeth turned away from them, but in truth he didn't blame her for her feelings, he had not exactly been a good father to her. Taking his family all four of them sat down now in front of the gods.

"I think we should explain, you were brought here by the Fates so that you could change the future for the better." Luke said as he stood up from his sitting spot so that he could see everyone. "For that were the nine of us sent back here by En's grandaunts with ten books written by the Muses. These books will show you all what went wrong and allow you to change the fate of many, some even present in this room." he finished as everyone exchanged glances with each other.

"Yes, we have already read some chapters and will fill you in when you get confused also you may take a few minutes before princess Andromeda "at this Fredric looked over with wide eyes at the beautiful woman with the young boy in her lap "continues, to tell the members of your group who those are they don't know till now." Poseidon's suggestion was followed by hushed conversations, the Chases kind of ignored by the demigods.

"You finally hook up in the future, that is great man." Bobby said grinning as he hit his blushing praetor on the back while Dakota exchanged grins with his half-brothers all three of them looking pleased to meet.

"Your daughter?" exclaimed both Lee and Michael in shock, the later also scowling when he heard about Ace, this made Aphrodite lean over to Ares so that only he hears her whisper.

"Triangle?" she asked him at which the War God looked to his side to where his two half-brothers were sitting then back at the kids before he finally looked back to his girlfriend shuddering.

"Please not." was his only reply to the Love Goddess.

"A love born under the rivalry of parents, that is sooo romantic!" Silena squealed in delight as she looked over at Luke and Sally.

When everyone was done with explaining who everyone was or gapping at the legacies sent by the Fates and the murmurs, laughs and sound of high-fives died down signalled Zeus for his daughter-in-law to continue with the reading, this chapter also promised to be a long one with them having only finished with the title.

_**I had weird dreams full of barnyard animals. Most of them wanted to kill me. The rest wanted food.**_

At this broke the legacies and the groups who were longer here out laughing together with Apollo and Hermes.

"This is even for the standard demigod dreams weird." Michael said while shaking his head over the laughter.

"Who dreams about that?" asked Matthew his twin who only shrugged, his eyes on they sister who was laughing with a blonde boy who looked like her and ignoring them.

_**I must've woken up several times, but what I heard and saw made no sense, so I just passed out again.**_

"How can you pass out when something makes no sense?" Michael asked again confused.

"Can it Yew, none of us knows." Clarisse snapped at him at which Michael was ready to retort but his older brother put his hand over his mouth.

"Not now, I swear you have got two extra feet to your height in attitude." Lee groaned while holding his little brother back, he could really not understand why he started all those constant fights with the Senior Councillor of Ares Cabin. He only wanted one such meeting where he doesn't get growled on by La Rue about that he should keep his big mouthed brother on the line if he doesn't want him delivered every day to the infirmary in a bucket.

"Uh…that reminds me that we have now two Michaels here same as two Bobbies and Jasons." come it suddenly from Gwen.

"Don't worry Aunt Gwen, I tend to go by Mich most of the time or my favourite title…" at this was Mich interrupted by Misty.

"By which only you call yourself so no." she finished for the pouting boy while the others snickered.

"I also go by Trickster." Bobby called from beside Felix earning a grin from his brothers and dad.

"I can go by Jay." Jason offered as he looked at Reyna.

"Then it is settled, now let us continue." Amphitrite said from beside her husband.

_**I remember lying in a soft bed, being spoon-fed something that tasted like buttered popcorn, only it was pudding.**_

Most of the present demigods smiled knowingly.

_**The girl with curly blond hair hovered over me, smirking as she scraped drips off my chin with the spoon.**_

Cue laughter as Annabeth blushed which made here father narrow his eyes so he didn't notice Sue shaking her head, she wanted for him to decide if he really wanted that girl or not. It also took much effort from her to believe that the girl's birth mother was truly a goddess and that she was now in both of they presences. She was determined to not let either of her sons go; she had read enough myths to know how vengeful gods could be.

_**When she saw my eyes open, she asked, "What will happen at the summer solstice?"**_

"Aunt Annabeth, you really didn't do that." Lance asked in amusement as said 'aunt' blushed.

"Dad is good in noting the small things, but never the big things." Sally said while shaking her head.

_**I managed to croak, "What?"**_

"And this will be one of his typical answers for most things." Luke said grinning at which Athena groaned making both Odysseus and Fredric stare at her, but only the former knowing the ground for her reaction.

_**She looked around, as if afraid someone would over hear. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!"**_

_**"I'm sorry," I mumbled, "I don't..."**_

_**Somebody knocked on the door, and the girl quickly filled my mouth with pudding.**_

"The perfect way to get a guy to shut up." Artemis said at which Apollo blushed while trying to not look at the questioning gazes he was receiving from his sons and grandson while Sue flinched as she imagined how many bad words the twins will learn when this is over.

_**The next time I woke up, the girl was gone.**_

_**A husky blond dude, like a surfer, stood in the corner of the bedroom keeping watch over me. He had blue eyes- at least a dozen of them- on his cheeks, his forehead, the backs of his hands.**_

"Argus, so he is also there." Hera said with a fond smile on her lips at the thought of Argus still being alright in the future.

"Mum?" Matthew asked his mother, but she shushed him, the more they get ignored the better in her option.

_**When I finally came around for good, there was nothing weird about my surroundings, except that they were nicer than I was used to. I was sitting in a deck chair on a huge porch, gazing across a meadow at green hills in the distance. The breeze smelled like strawberries.**_

Travis looked suddenly really uncomfortable by the gazes he was getting from some members of they group while Katie blushed, finally understanding why he tended to stay near the fields for hours when she was working there with her siblings.

_**There was a blanket over my legs, a pillow behind my neck. All that was great, but my mouth felt like a scorpion had been using it for a nest. My tongue was dry and nasty and every one of my teeth hurt.**_

_**On the table next to me was a tall drink. It looked like iced apple juice, with a green straw and a paper parasol stuck through a maraschino cherry.**_

_**My hand was so weak I almost dropped the glass once I got my fingers around it.**_

_**"Careful," a familiar voice said.**_

_**Grover was leaning against the porch railing, looking like he hadn't slept in a week.**_

"What?" Poseidon, Triton, Theseus and Orion gasped in panic while Perseus filled in Bellerophon that his little brother had fought the Minotaur before getting to camp, he told him that this is also the ground why they couch has ten holes in it, courtesy of Theseus.

"Dad was only out for two days." Sally supplied at which the four relaxed.

_**Under one arm, he cradled a shoe box. He was wearing blue jeans, Converse hi-tops and a bright orange T-shirt that said CAMP HALF-BLOOD.**_

The Greek demigods and legacies from the future all grinned; this was that made the past heroes and the gods notice they orange T-shirts while the Romans wore purple with Camp Jupiter written on it.

_**Just plain old Grover, Not the goat boy.**_

At Bobby's and Felix's confused looks explained Jay that Grover was a faun and that they seem to be pretty different from the ones in New Rome and camp.

_**So maybe I'd had a nightmare. Maybe my mom was okay. We were still on vacation, and we'd stopped here at this big house for some reason. And...**_

_**"You saved my life," Grover said. "I... well, the least I could do ... I went back to the hill. I thought you might want this."**_

_**Reverently, he placed the shoe box in my lap.**_

_**Inside was a black-and-white bull's horn, the base jagged from being broken off, the tip splattered with dried blood. It hadn't been a nightmare.**_

_**"The Minotaur," I said.**_

_**"Urn, Percy, it isn't a good idea-"**_

_**"That's what they call him in the Greek myths, isn't it?" I demanded. "The Minotaur. Half man, half bull."**_

"And we all remember whose fault that one is." Athena said smirking which Odysseus mirrored.

"I wouldn't be grinning in her place." whispered Nathan to his friends who nodded in agreement.

"How old is he exactly?" Jason asked curiously.

"Twelve." whined Theseus, he was sure that the last chapter had given him some gray hairs as he worried for his little brother.

"Uh…he is pretty good." Bobby said to Jay who nodded.

_**Grover shifted uncomfortably. "You've been out for two days. How much do you remember?"**_

_**"My mom. Is she really ..."**_

_**He looked down.**_

"It seems that they also missed the fact that she was not killed." Katie said at which her mother scoffed.

"I would think that people in the future know how this vile creature likes abducting innocent people." Demeter said while glaring at her brother/son-in-law.

"Mother, leave my husband alone and if he wouldn't have taken her would she have gone permanently to the Underworld." Persephone growled at her mother who looked offended that she was siding with the Dark God when Orpheus spoke up.

"Lady Demeter, with all due respect I understand your scorn towards Lord Hades, but he is usually a just God in his decisions." Orpheus said at which his father beamed at him together with Persephone while Hades gave a reluctant nod of appreciation for his help. Seeing the Goddess of Harvest open her mouth again nudged Perseus his wife to continue.

_**I stared across the meadow. There were groves of trees, a winding stream, acres of strawberries spread out under the blue sky. The valley was surrounded by rolling hills, and the tallest one, directly in front of us, was the one with the huge pine tree on top. Even that looked beautiful in the sunlight.**_

_**My mother was gone. The whole world should be black and cold. Nothing should look beautiful.**_

Most people looked down sadly at this.

_**"I'm sorry," Grover sniffled. "I'm a failure. I'm- I'm the worst satyr in the world."**_

"You are not!" yelled all those who knew Grover.

"Beside that were you the one who found all Greek children of the Big Three." stated Luke, Sally and Enysswe making said brothers look up.

_**He moaned, stomping his foot so hard it came off. I mean, the Converse hi-top came off. The inside was filled with Styrofoam, except for a hoof-shaped hole.**_

_**"Oh, Styx!" he mumbled.**_

_**Thunder rolled across the clear sky.**_

_**As he struggled to get his hoof back in the fake foot, I thought, Well, that settles was a satyr. I was ready to bet that if I shaved his curly brown hair, I'd find tiny horns on his head.**_

_**But I was too miserable to care that satyrs existed, or even minotaurs. All that meant was my mom really had been squeezed into nothingness, dissolved into yellow light.**_

_**I was alone. An orphan. I would have to live with ... Smelly Gabe?**_

"You would only return to that thing if I faded away in that time you got to camp." Poseidon scoffed.

_**No. That would never happen. I would live on the streets first. I would pretend I was seventeen and join the army. I'd do something.**_

_**Grover was still sniffling. The poor kid- poor goat, satyr, whatever- looked as if he expected to be hit.**_

_**I said, "It wasn't your fault."**_

_**"Yes, it was. I was supposed to protect you."**_

_**"Did my mother ask you to protect me?"**_

_**"No. But that's my job. I'm a keeper. At least... I was."**_

_**"But why ..." I suddenly felt dizzy, my vision swimming.**_

_**"Don't strain yourself," Grover said. "Here." He helped me hold my glass and put the straw to my lips.**_

_**I recoiled at the taste, because I was expecting apple juice. It wasn't that at all. It was chocolate-chip cookies. Liquid cookies.**_

"We want that to!" chorused both Bobby and Matthew at the same time.

"It would kill you the second a drop reaches your tongue, beside that it tastes for all of us different." Malcolm answered before turning away from the family which had hurt his sister, noting the tension Andromeda continued hurriedly.

_**And not just any cookies- my mom's homemade blue chocolate-chip cookies, buttery and hot, with the chips still melting. Drinking it, my whole body felt warm and good, full of energy. My grief didn't go away, but I felt as if my mom had just brushed her hand against my cheek, given me a cookie the way she used to when I was small, and told me everything was going to be okay.**_

_**Before I knew it, I'd drained the glass. I stared into it, sure I'd just had a warm drink, but the ice cubes hadn't even melted.**_

_**"Was it good?" Grover asked.**_

_**I nodded.**_

_**"What did it taste like?" He sounded so wistful, I felt guilty.**_

_**"Sorry," I said. "I should've let you taste."**_

_**His eyes got wide. "No! That's not what I meant. I just... wondered."**_

_**"Chocolate-chip cookies," I said. "My mom's. Home made."**_

_**He sighed. "And how do you feel?"**_

_**"Like I could throw Nancy Bobofit a hundred yards."**_

Those who were present by the first chapters grinned while the others looked confused about if that was now good or bad, but settled for the former looking at the fact that the others were grinning.

_**"That's good," he said. "That's good. I don't think you could risk drinking any more of that stuff"**_

_**"What do you mean?"**_

_**He took the empty glass from me gingerly, as if it were dynamite, **_

"It is more kind of a liquid combustion." Ace said when he noticed the fact that one of Enysswe's uncles was occasionally glancing at him from the corner of his eyes and not looking exactly pleased. "Uhm…En, one of your uncle's doesn't seem to like me much." he whispered to the raven haired girl.

"I'm not sure, but my mom thinks that he may have had a crush on your mom and went out of his way to annoy her as much as he could, kind of like why Lance's dad played so many pranks on his mom, but not sure." she explained at which Ace shuddered, not exactly liking the thought that his mom could have ended up with someone other then his dad.

_**and set it back on the table. "Come on. Chiron and Mr. D are waiting."**_

At this tried the Greeks to not look in Dionysus's direction while the future legacies smirked at the fact that in they time was the camp director Mr. P and not Mr. D.

_**The porch wrapped all the way around the farmhouse.**_

_**My legs felt wobbly, trying to walk that far. Grover offered to carry the Minotaur horn, but I held on to it. I'd paid for that souvenir the hard way. I wasn't going to let it go.**_

"Good, you have earned it so is it your spoil of war." Ares said approvingly, the fire in his eyes burning brighter and because he didn't possess sunglasses in the past were his eyes in plain view, making the Chases shudder in fear.

_**As we came around the opposite end of the house, I caught my breath.**_

"It happens to everyone." Castor said with a smile as he remembered the day he and his brother had come to camp and not only meet they dad for the first time since the death of they mom, but saw also they new home.

At the same time were Mr. Chase the Roman demigods, heroes of the past and some of the gods also leaning further in they seats, they were all curious about the camp for the Greek demigods.

_**We must've been on the north shore of Long Island, because on this side of the house, the valley marched all the way up to the water, which glittered about a mile in the distance. Between here and there, I simply couldn't process everything I was seeing. The landscape was dotted with buildings that looked like ancient Greek architecture an open-air pavilion, an amphitheater, a circular arena except that they all looked brand new, their white marble columns sparkling in the sun.**_

"Your camp sounds beautiful." Gwen breathed, not only sounded the other camp pretty, but somehow gave the description also a more relaxed feeling to it then they camp had.

"If we really can change the future then we could show you all around if you would like, meaning much sooner then in the time of the children." Katie said to her when Silena also leaned over to talk with her sister, with Chiron and Lupa watching they charges from the side line, both stunned and pleased that they were not charging at each other like usually.

"I can teach those who like riding." Silena offered to her half-sister who nodded eagerly as she remembered that the other camp had pegasi like Skippy.

_**In a nearby sandpit, a dozen high school-age kids and satyrs played volleyball.**_

The Romans looked stunned at this piece of information, not only were the fauns in he Greek camp doing productive work with searching for demigods, bringing them to camp and keep a look out for monsters, but they also took part in social activity. This strengthened Reyna's resolve to do something about the fauns at home and Dakota was also making plans to help her out as best as he could.

_**Canoes glided across a small lake. Kids in bright orange T-shirts like Grover's were chasing each other around a cluster of cabins nestled in the woods. Some shot targets at an archery range.**_

Apollo and his kids grinned with Orion and Bellerophon also joining in; the only two of Poseidon's children who were not walking dangers if armed with a bow and arrows, Frank also liked the sound of that place.

_**Others rode horses down a wooded trail, and, unless I was hallucinating, some of their horses had wings.**_

Silena smiled, she loved riding classes.

_**Down at the end of the porch, two men sat across from each other at a card table. The blond-haired girl who'd spoon-fed me popcorn-flavored pudding was leaning on the porch rail next to them.**_

_**The man facing me was small, but porky.**_

"Uhuh…" come it from the demigods in orange while Chiron slapped his forehead which made Lupa look up at him with a raised eyebrow.

_**He had a red nose, big watery eyes, and curly hair so black it was almost purple. He looked like those paintings of baby angels- what do you call them, hubbubs? No, cherubs. That's it. He looked like a cherub who'd turned middle-aged in a trailer park.**_

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Castor and Pollux, that person was they dad and this was not a flattering description, meanwhile the other campers tried to hold in they laughter about Mr. D while the gods looked suddenly thoughtful, they gazes slowly turning to Dionysus who sat suddenly straighter in his throne.

_**He wore a tiger-pattern Hawaiian shirt, and he would've fit right in at one of Gabe's poker parties, except I got the feeling this guy could've out-gambled even my step father.**_

Now had Dakota also caught up with his brohters reactions and he didn't look pleased.

_**"That's Mr. D," Grover murmured to me. "He's the camp director. Be polite.**_

"To late for that." Apollo whispered to Hermes as they both looked over to they angry little brother.

"Someone is channelling they brother it seems." Dionysus growled while Theseus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. At the same time outside was Ariadne only shaking her head at the description of her husband.

"So it is my son whom I have sent there." Zeus mused to himself.

_**The girl, that's Annabeth Chase. She's just a camper, but she's been here longer than just about anybody.**_

Mr. Chase flinched at this mostly after seeing the disappointed look Athena was giving him.

_**And you already know Chiron..."**_

_**He pointed at the guy whose back was to me.**_

_**First, I realized he was sitting in the wheelchair. Then I recognized the tweed jacket, the thinning brown hair, the scraggly beard.**_

_**"Mr. Brunner!" I cried.**_

_**The Latin teacher turned and smiled at me. His eyes had that mischievous glint they sometimes got in class when he pulled a pop quiz and made all the multiple choice answers B.**_

_**"Ah, good, Percy," he said. "Now we have four for pinochle."**_

_**He offered me a chair to the right of Mr. D, who looked at me with bloodshot eyes and heaved a great sigh. "Oh, I suppose I must say it. Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. There. Now, don't expect me to be glad to see you."**_

"You know that this is kind of rude brother." Persephone said to the Wine God, but he didn't know how to answer her, it was to far in the future.

_**"Uh, thanks." I scooted a little farther away from him because, if there was one thing I had learned from living with Gabe, it was how to tell when an adult has been hitting the happy juice. If Mr. D was a stranger to alcohol, I was a satyr.**_

Everyone snorted at that.

"With D being the God of Wine is that really no surpraise." Hermes snickered.

_**"Annabeth?" Mr. Brunner called to the blond girl.**_

_**She came forward and Mr. Brunner introduced us. "This young lady nursed you back to health, Percy. Annabeth, my dear, why don't you go check on Percy's bunk? We'll be putting him in cabin eleven for now."**_

The three sons of Hermes scowled at this, they hated how little place there was in they cabin.

"You have cabins?" Felix asked.

"Yes at the beginning was it twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians, cabin eleven was the Hermes cabin everyone stayed there till they got claimed" Luke said bitterly, that had casued so much grief ", but later dad made sure that the other gods also get they own cabins for they kids so in our time we have around thirty-two cabins in camp. The new campers stay in Lady Hestia's cabin" at this smiled the gods over at they sister/aunt who had a brigt smile on her lips, she didn't mind giving the weary or lost shelter and warmth "for two or three days, but never more then a week before moving into the cabin of they godly-parent." Luke finished explaining at which Travis, Connor and Chris looked pleased just like they friends. Waiting max for a week till you know where you belong sounded not that bad compared to the curent stand of things.

_**Annabeth said, "Sure, Chiron."**_

_**She was probably my age, maybe a couple of inches taller, and a whole lot more athletic looking. **_

_**With her deep tan and her curly blond hair, she was almost exactly what I thought a stereotypical California girl would look like, except her eyes ruined the image.**_

"Excuse us?" asked Athena and her children looking offended just like Odysseus and Fredric, they both liked Athena's eyes.

"I think your eyes look charming." Mitchell whispered to Malcolm who whipped his head to the side to look at the brunette with wide eyes, his face flushed crimson while the other only winked at him.

"There is more to the paragraph." Andromeda said suddenly stopping Malcolm from freaking out even more about the compliment.

_**They were startling gray, like storm clouds; pretty, but intimidating, too, as if she were analyzing the best way to take me down in a fight.**_

"Oh…" Athena said with a tint of a blush on her cheeks before she remembered that this come from a sea spawn.

"I probably will be doing that." Annabeth said blushing, Percy really seemed to be observant for the small details, she didn't notice her still embarrassed brother who turned away from the boy sitting beside him as he tried ignoring him.

_**She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.**_

"I think you are facing the wrong girl from the wrong cabin young man." Lupa said, she could imagine a Venus/Aphrodite girl saying something like this, but not a Minerva/Athena child.

_**Instead she said, "You drool when you sleep."**_

There was a great deal of laughter at this while Athena looked at her daughter with a raised eyebrow.

"From all the things I could have said." Annabeth groaned, this was not like her.

"Yes, the above two suggestion would have sounded more romantic." Aphrodite said at which Fredric chocked while Athena glared at her.

_**Then she sprinted off down the lawn, her blond hair flying behind her.**_

_**"So," I said, anxious to change the subject. "You, uh, work here, Mr. Brunner?"**_

_**"Not Mr. Brunner," the ex-Mr. Brunner said. "I'm afraid that was a pseudonym. You may call me Chiron."**_

_**"Okay." Totally confused, I looked at the director. "And Mr. D ... does that stand for something?"**_

Apollo opened his mouth to give a list of words starting with the letter'd', but was stopped by the tip of a silver arrow only inches from his nose.

_**Mr. D stopped shuffling the cards. He looked at me like I'd just belched loudly. "Young man, names are powerful things. You don't just go around using them for no reason."**_

The demigods and legacies form the future nodded in agrement.

_**"Oh. Right. Sorry."**_

_**"I must say, Percy," Chiron-Brunner broke in, "I'm glad to see you alive. It's been a long time since I've made a house call to a potential camper. I'd hate to think I've wasted my time."**_

_**"House call?"**_

_**"My year at Yancy Academy, to instruct you. We have satyrs at most schools, of course, keeping a lookout. But Grover alerted me as soon as he met you. He sensed you were something special, so I decided to come upstate. I convinced the other Latin teacher to ... ah, take a leave of absence."**_

_**I tried to remember the beginning of the school year. It seemed like so long ago, but I did have a fuzzy memory of there being another Latin teacher my first week at Yancy. Then, without explanation, he had disappeared and Mr. Brunner had taken the class.**_

_**"You came to Yancy just to teach me?" I asked.**_

_**Chiron nodded. "Honestly, I wasn't sure about you at first. We contacted your mother, let her know we were keeping an eye on you in case you were ready for Camp Half-Blood. But you still had so much to learn. Nevertheless, you made it here alive, and that's always the first test."**_

The past heroes, divinities, Chase family and the Roman demigos flinched, the later group starting to wonder how it would be for them if they would not all live togher in New Rome, to find out that you are a half-blood and the first test you are faced with is getting alive to your camp. Even if you were in the Wolf House for some time this didn't sound all to great and you would be have already got some trianing there and not make that way defenseless.

_**"Grover," Mr. D said impatiently, "are you playing or not?"**_

_**"Yes, sir!" Grover trembled as he took the fourth chair, though I didn't know why he should be so afraid of a pudgy little man in a tiger-print Hawaiian shirt.**_

"He shouldn't be, but I would like to know how this boy avoids to feel my wrath?" Dionysus asked the future legacies, his face red and not from wine.

"We think that you have a strange type of liking for dad and you two also are still in the middle of a small war with each other with you stubbornly insisting to get his name wrong, more then you tended to do by others." Sally explained to the God who still looked annoyed as did his sons due to the description no matter if it was the reality, they liked they dad.

_**"You do know how to play pinochle?" Mr. D eyed me suspiciously.**_

_**"I'm afraid not," I said.**_

_**"I'm afraid not, sir," he said.**_

_**"Sir," I repeated. I was liking the camp director less and less.**_

_**"Well," he told me, "it is, along with gladiator fighting and Pac-Man, one of the greatest games ever invented by humans. I would expect all civilized young men to know the rules."**_

The Romans were staring at Dakota somewhat warily while his dad looked confused together with the others from the past.

"I have no clue about what any of those three are." Dionysus finally admitted.

"The first one you will know in some decades I think, but I'm not sure, but soon, they are a Roman invention" Henry said with distaste, those games increased his grandfather's workload pretty badly and mostly that his uncle Nico was almost made part of such a game, not to mention that uncle Percy and Jason needed to take part in one. "The others are farther in the future." the gods nodded at this.

_**"I'm sure the boy can learn," Chiron said.**_

_**"Please," I said, "what is this place? What am I doing here? Mr. Brun-Chiron-why would you go to Yancy Academy just to teach me?"**_

_**Mr. D snorted. "I asked the same question."**_

_**The camp director dealt the cards. Grover flinched every time one landed in his pile.**_

_**Chiron smiled at me sympathetically, the way he used to in Latin class, as if to let me know that no matter what my average was, I was his star student. He expected me to have the**__** right **__**answer.**_

All demigods let out soft groans at this, knowing what Percy meant.

"Lupa and I only wish to make sure that you can survive." Chiron said smiling at his students both past and present; it was nice to see them again.

_**"Percy," he said. "Did your mother tell you nothing?'**_

_**"She said ..." I remembered her sad eyes, looking out over the sea. "She told me she was afraid to send me here, even though my father had wanted her to. She said that once I was here, I probably couldn't leave. She wanted to keep me close to her."**_

_**"Typical," Mr. D said. "That's how they usually get killed. Young man, are you bidding or not?"**_

"You had always been a brutally honest child." Hestia said to her nephew for whom she had given up her throne.

"I don't like beating around the bush Aunt Hestia." Dionysus replied to his aunt while the children looked thoughtful, it was true that if nothing else had Mr. D always been honest to them if they wanted it or not.

_**"What?" I asked.**_

_**He explained, impatiently, how you bid in pinochle, and so I did.**_

_**"I'm afraid there's too much to tell," Chiron said. "I'm afraid our usual orientation film won't be sufficient."**_

_**"Orientation film?" I asked.**_

"Then hopefully he explains everything to him or he will be pretty confused later on." Lee said with the others nodding in agreement with him. The Romans didn't ask after they remembered that unlike them they still don't have a city for the demigods so there were not many who could tell them everything.

_**"No," Chiron decided. "Well, Percy. You know your friend Grover is a satyr. You know-" he pointed to the horn in the shoe box- "that you have killed the Minotaur. No small feat, either, lad. What you may not know is that great powers are at work in your life. Gods- the forces you call the Greek gods- are very much alive."**_

_**I stared at the others around the table.**_

_**I waited for somebody to yell, Not! But all I got was Mr. D yelling, "Oh, a royal marriage. Trick! Trick!" He cackled as he tallied up his points.**_

_**"Mr. D," Grover asked timidly, "if you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?"**_

Dionysus only shook his head with a fond smile as he remembered a certain satyr, who choose the most odd times to ask him for food.

_**"Eh? Oh, all right."**_

_**Grover bit a huge shard out of the empty aluminum can and chewed it mournfully.**_

_**"Wait," I told Chiron. "You're telling me there's such a thing as god."**_

_**"Well, now," Chiron said. "God- capital G, God. That's a different matter altogether. We shan't deal with the metaphysical."**_

_**"Metaphysical? But you were just talking about-"**_

_**"Ah, gods, plural, as in, great beings that control the forces of nature and human endeavors: the immortal gods of Olympus. That's a smaller matter."**_

"Smaller?" asked the Gods looking offended at Chiron who held his hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry." he said carefully while beside him Lupa snickered.

_**"Smaller?"**_

_**"Yes, quite. The gods we discussed in Latin class."**_

_**"Zeus," I said. "Hera. Apollo. You mean them."**_

"It is kind of amusing how he had left out his own father even with all those water references he makes." Reyna said in amusement.

_**And there it was again-distant thunder on a cloud less day.**_

_**"Young man," said Mr. D, "I would really be less casual about throwing those names around, if I were you."**_

_**"But they're stories," I said. "They're- myths, to explain lightning and the seasons and stuff. They're what people believed before there was science."**_

"What is that?" asked everyone from the antique at which both Bobby and Matthew snickered, but they mother hushed them again.

"You will soon know, dad kind of goes on a roll when one mentions science in his hearing range." Pollux said while shaking his head.

_**"Science!" Mr. D scoffed. "And tell me, Perseus Jackson"-I flinched when he said my real name, which I never told anybody- "what will people think of your 'science' two thousand years from now?" Mr. D continued. "Hmm? They will call it primitive mumbo jumbo. That's what. Oh, I love mortals- they have absolutely no sense of perspective. They think they've come so-o-o far. And have they, Chiron? Look at this boy and tell me."**_

_**I wasn't liking Mr. D much, but there was something about the way he called me mortal, as if... he wasn't. **_

"Of course, I had been one in the past, but not anymore." Dionysus said with a hint of disdain in his voice, it was not easy being the only God in the council who had a mortal as mother, his siblings tended to not take his option into account. Really the only two family members who were decent to him when they interacted with each other were his aunt Hestia who gave up her throne for him and his uncle Hades who had acted pretty fair to him when he went to his realm to get his mother and also Ariadne, two who were not even part of the council. His wife and children were another matter as was that silly satyr he called his best friend.

Meanwhile were the demigods all staring at the god while some of his half-siblings shifted in they thrones remembering when Dionysus first come to Olymphos how they pointed it out to him that he was the only one of them with a mortal mother. Hermes also felt kind of bad that he had also taken part of his younger brother's teasing even thought he had helped hide him away as a baby from Hera and he was also good friends with Pan. Hermes did not know that his brother Apollo was also thinking about the friendship between his nephew and they brother, but more about an incident when he comforted Pan about that lost music contest and Dionysus giving him a black eye for daring to scare his best friend.

_**It was enough to put a lump in my throat, to suggest why Grover was dutifully minding his cards, chewing his soda can, and keeping his mouth shut.**_

_**"Percy," Chiron said, "you may choose to believe or not, but the fact is that immortal means immortal. Can you imagine that for a moment, never dying? Never fading? Existing, just as you are, for all time?"**_

The nine legacies exchanged knowing glances, he knew it that was for sure, he had even rejected it, but there was always place for a second chance, it all depended now on the fact if he should accept it this time around or reject it like last time.

_**I was about to answer, off the top of my head, that it sounded like a pretty good deal, but the tone of Chiron's voice made me hesitate.**_

_**"You mean, whether people believed in you or not," I said.**_

_**"Exactly," Chiron agreed. "If you were a god, how would you like being called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that some day people would call you a myth,**_

"He gets to that level in less then two years, but max in four years from the time he arrived." Mich said grinning while everyone blinked in shock.

_**just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their mothers?"**_

_**My heart pounded. He was trying to make me angry for some reason, but I wasn't going to let him. I said, "I wouldn't like it. But I don't believe in gods."**_

_**"Oh, you'd better," Mr. D murmured. "Before one of them incinerates you."**_

_**Grover said, "P-please, sir. He's just lost his mother. He's in shock."**_

_**"A lucky thing, too," Mr. D grumbled, playing a card. "Bad enough I'm confined to this miserable job, working with boys who don't even believe.'"**_

_**He waved his hand and a goblet appeared on the table, as if the sunlight had bent, momentarily, and woven the air into glass. The goblet filled itself with red wine.**_

_**My jaw dropped, but Chiron hardly looked up.**_

_**"Mr. D," he warned, "your restrictions."**_

"Rest…" Dionysus started, but was interrupted by an indigent shriek, something similar the others experienced outside from the children of the Night Goddess.

"RESTRICTIONS!" Enysswe shrieked in agitation, invisible wind sweeping her hair around her like a black hallow, shadows and golden light whirled around her body as she stood up from her place, hands clenched into fists. "ARE YOU TRYING TO MURDER HIM?!" she looked furious as she marched in Zeus's direction who looked scared from the girl, but also confused.

"Enysswe calm down please!" Henry called out as he hurried after his cousin, but due to the two elements swirling around her could he not touch her without the danger of being seriously hurt.

"I will..." then she suddenly stopped and took out the scroll on which the message from the Fates had appeared and unrolled it, humming a tune under her breath the scroll started floating on a pillow of golden light. Everyone watched with wide eyes as she touched one of the pendants on the silver circlet on her wrist, how it turned into a Stygian Iron Sword with two silver wings as the guard, in the middle of the sword glowed silver symbols, an ancient script even the Gods remembered only faintly to have seen. Eyes widened in horror as she slashed her own wrist, letting the crimson liquid with a tint of gold fall on the paper, forming the words of a letter, when also the last word had appeared the scroll rolled up and Enysswe started humming a tune, the cut healing and her sword becoming again a charm on her wrist. "Someone will have a talk with _Lord Zeus_ from our time." she said, but her eyes still were icy as she looked at the King of Gods while outside was Arete trying to calm down a crying Ariadne who had broken out into tears after Nemesis finished her explanation to the others about the ground of they outburst.

"Enysswe, what is wrong?" Apollo asked his granddaughter, not sure what to do and the room seemed to darken constantly around them. "What do you mean that he is trying to murder Dionysus?"

"I was informed about the fact that he was made camp director as a punishment and only left for council meetings, but I was never told that his _properties were restricted._" she spat the last lines out like venom. "This is something every child or descendant of Nyx gets told, if a divinities property of power gets restricted even if it is for a short while like fifteen years they powers start slowly to vain, they personality slowly goes blank with one emotion disappearing after another till the god or goddess fades away." at those words sat everyone up much straighter in they thrones and turned to the pale looking God of Wine. "If he is restricted from even making wine appear or wine grapes, this also cuts out the festivities with alcoholic beverages seeing how he is keeping an eye on children, the theatre thing is also not something you can hold every week at least once and I wont even mention the madness part so in others words is he not allowed to use any of his domains of power which will weaken him and then kill him." Enysswe finished with her explaining and the other demigods went immediately to comfort Pollux, Castor and Dakota who all had tears in they eyes while by the heroes of the past was Theseus conflicted about how to feel about the god who in a way had a hand in the death of his father.

"Would not be the first time I died in a painful way." Dionysus said after a few minutes of defeating silence at which his family and all those who knew what the Titans have done to him as a baby and even the happening before he was born flinched while the Romans paled slightly as they remembered how they ancestors diminished some gods properties and ordered them to others, they didn't want to know if those had survived or not because they feared the answer. "Beside that not that to many here would care anyway."

"You really need to talk with the primordials about things you should know father." come it suddenly from Persephone as she stood up from her throne walked past that of her husband and grabbed her half-brother by his arm and yanked him out of his throne. "You will come now with me and we will have a long overdue brother-sister talk." she told the stunned god and stared dragging him in the direction of the entrance.

"And we will also be going." said Artemis as she also stood up and grabbed Dionysus's other arm they siblings also standing up and walking over to they sisters.

"The girls are right, come D we go in the kitchen and I make you some warm milk with cacao powder in it." Ares said which made others gap at him while the future legacies only smirked.

"So this is where your mom gets her idea for making hot chocolate if someone is upset." Nathan whispered to Ace before walking over to the Roman side and nudging his father who got the message and walked carefully over to the standing gods.

"Perseus, Heracles after my knowledge are also children of Zeus so move it over here." called Artemis as the siblings made they way out of the throne room in the direction of the kitchens to talk with Dionysus and to show him that they did care about him leaving back an uncomfortable looking Zeus, Hera did not comment because she was not different from her husband only in the fact that when he was still a baby had Zeus done many things to protect him from her, but this was it as it seems.

"We should also go talking brother, we will continue in a hour." Hades suggested as both he and Hestia walked over to they youngest brother and grabbed his arms, pulling him in the direction of the other entrance.

"Chiron, you should also come." Hestia told they half-brother who nodded reluctantly after standing up and following his other siblings which left four divinities, the demigods, remaining past heroes and Chase family.

They spent ten minutes only sitting around with occasional reassuring whispers towards the three siblings who looked now slightly better and Henry trying to help Enysswe regain her breathing and to get back a bit more of her skin colour.

"Henry, do you need help?" at this Henry turned around to notice the younger version of his uncle standing behind him, looking a bit awkward and he could kind of understand why.

"That would be helpful, it may go faster." he said scooting a bit over to the side so that Will could also sit down beside them and take his daughter's hand into his, he was a bit startled that her skin temperature seemed to be different in different points on her skin.

"So…sorry to be a bother, I…I'm usually better at keeping my emotions in check." Enysswe said sheepishly, her breathing still a bit rough.

"Don't worry about that En, you knew something bad the others didn't, you had a right to be angry." Henry told his cousin while pulling a strain of blonde hair from her face.

"I agree with you cousin." Will said carefully, still confused about his daughter's skin colour which she noticed and let out a little laugh.

"Dad is the son of Hades, all children of my grandfather's have naturally colder skin temperatures then others while your dad is the God of the Sun this means that your skin is much warmer then normal." Will nodded slightly blushing as he remembered that he was often asked if he had a slight fever because his skin felt always warm. "Seeing that I was not born, but created is it understandable that my skin temperature would wary because of your two inherited aspects." this made sense and to be honest he felt kind of content sitting here close to his daughter and nephew while holding the former's hand, he didn't even notice the smile Lee was giving him before walking over with Michael to Orpheus to talk with they older brother, the others were also forming smaller groups and using the time to talk with either they siblings or grandkids.

Even Aphrodite who stayed back, Amphitrite and Triton were talking with Luke and Sally, moved over to have a little talk with Lupa who looked understandably panicked by that fact, but there was no way for her to escape from the other goddess.

Annabeth had just parted a bit from Malcolm who had grabbed Mitchell by the arm and dragged him a bit farther away and was now interrogating him about something. She did not know what it was, but her brother had a deep blush on his cheeks while the brunette son of Aphrodite was only smiling at him coyly. She shook her head and was about to seek out Odysseus the man her mum had favoured in the past pretty much, it was hard to imagine that the man was a legacy of Hermes, but oh well seeing some of they pranks did she need to admit that they were pretty witty, but her plans were interrupted by a familiar voice from behind her.

"Annabeth?" Fredric had watched the group of demigods and they interactions with each other, waiting for a chance to talk with his daughter without the boy he presumed was her half-brother giving him a cold look, but he was now arguing with a boy he remembered seeing in a few teen fashion magazines by some of his female students. He guessed being a child of Aphrodite gave you an instant access into the modelling branch.

"There is nothing we need to talk about, you are free from your burden and can enjoy a normal family." Annabeth replied, not turning around as she tired to ignore the man behind her.

"Annabeth I know that I have not been the best father in the world, I didn't even expect to be a father so soon I…" he was cut off by his daughter who finally turned around, her gray eyes which reminded him so much of her mother like dark storm clouds.

"You did a great job being the father of twin boys, you ignored me, Sue had ignored the fact that every night I got attacked by spiders, you didn't allow me to even play or be near my brothers without you two being present. Whenever something went wrong was I to be blamed even then when it had nothing to do with me. You don't know how hard it was to survive on my own, then I met Thalia and Luke, they gave me the feeling of how a family is like, my mother tried to look out for me as much as she could that I find my way to camp where I'm happy with my siblings and friends. You had never seen me as your daughter only a burden that was forced on you by a goddess" Annabeth said, tears threatening to fall from her eyes, but it did good to get this from her chest.

Fredric wanted to say something back that she was wrong, but he would be laying that she got it all wrong, true it had not been easy with his job and having a baby who was in constant danger from unnatural things. Though there was also the fact that were it not for Athena he would not have had his job and he should have known that his friendship to her would end up in something, she was a goddess. Then he met Sue and things started to look so much better and when the twins come was he ecstatic, but this was also the time Annabeth's scent got noticeable to the monsters and she would constantly be covered by scars, her stories of spiders attacking her in the night and the bite marks disappearing in the morning. He still wanted to talk to her, to tell her how worried he was when he got home and noticed that his daughter was missing, that he wanted her to come back home, to give them all a chance, but before he could say anything a large, muscled girl with stingy brown hair walked up to them and put a hand on Annabeth's shoulder.

"Come Princess, you brother is seconds away from straggling the Pretty Boy and that is not a good idea with his mother in the room." she said gesturing to the two boys in the back of the room.

"I'm on it Clarisse." Annabeth said in a grateful tone at which the other girl only nodded before heading over to the two children of Aphrodite to get them also moving, leaving a dejected Fredric to move back to his family.

"I take it that it went bad." Sue told her husband who only sighed, they twins were pouting because they were not allowed to roam around or to go to they sister who was now dragging a blonde haired boy back to the mat on which they were sitting.

"She has good reasons to be mad at me." was the only thing he replied while looking longingly at his child.

* * *

After the hour was over had all the gods returned to the throne room, Dionysus was immediately hugged by all three of his sons upon entering, his sisters only smiled at this while Ares looked in amusement at Apollo who was still panting after running around the kitchen nearly sixty times as he tried to get away from an angry Hermes who found out that his brother dared to bully his favourite son because of a dumb music contest. Zeus had been pushed in front of his son by his older brothers and made apologize and promise on the River Styx that he will never punish any of his children with the restriction of they power properties.

"Now that we are back can we continue." said Hera after they had all sat down and Chiron was looking strangely at Lupa who was blushing under her fur and muttering some not exactly pleasant things about the Goddess of Love who had taken out her list again.

_**Mr. D looked at the wine and feigned surprise.**_

_**"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"**_

_**More thunder.**_

Zeus shifted uncomfortably in his throne as the others glared at him while Hades patted his nephew on the arm.

_**Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.**_

_**Chiron winked at me. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."**_

"And I wonder why she was declared off-limits?" Hera asked her squirming husband testily while the others glare only intensified.

"Really father, you risk the life of your son because of a nymph you made off-limits?" Artemis growled at her father, she was really starting to get from where Apollo gets some of his tendencies regards running after people he develops an interest in and then being possessive.

_**"A wood nymph," I repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space.**_

_**"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me.**_

"I do not." Zeus said, but the raised eyebrows he got made him shut up, maybe he liked punishing people…a little bit.

_**The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time- well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away- the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."**_

"Our sentiments exactly." Travis whispered to his brother.

"How long should this punishment be?" Hades asked suddenly while looking at Chiron.

"One hundred years." replied the old centaur flinching when it occurred to him that his nephew would have probably not been in the best shape after his punishment ended.

"I see." Hades growled, his banning from Olymphos except one day a year was hard to bear, but at least in his case would it not end with his death, his little brother really needed to get a grip on how to be a better ruler.

_**Mr. D sounded about six years old, like a pouting little kid.**_

No one commented at this seeing how the air in the room was still tense.

_**"And ..." I stammered, "your father is ..."**_

_**"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."**_

"Like for half of Olymphos." Poseidon said to his little brother who avoided everyone's gazes.

_**I ran through D names from Greek mythology. Wine. The skin of a tiger. The satyrs that all seemed to work here. The way Grover cringed, as if Mr. D were his master.**_

_**"You're Dionysus," I said. "The god of wine."**_

_**Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?"**_

_**"Y-yes, Mr. D."**_

_**"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"**_

"You wish." Aphrodite sniffed, but winked at the other God to show that she was not angry with him.

"Well, actually if D wants to he can look pretty good and…" at this Hermes interrupted his brother still out for revenge for his son.

"Yep, Apollo once failed to notice that he was talking to Dionysus and started flirting with him which resulted with D yelling at him to at least try keeping a tack on his brother and hung him from a mountain with wine plants, Artemis needed to get him down after three days." Hermes said laughing, even Dionysus snickered at the memory while Apollo sunk down in his throne his face burning with embarrassment while his children stared at him gapping while Octavian was doing his best to avoid Dakota's gaze.

"Uh…" was the only thing Travis could bring out.

"I will have problems looking at the Apollo cabin the same way as before." Connor said while his friends nodded in agreement.

_**"You're a god."**_

_**"Yes, child."**_

_**"A god. You."**_

"Seaweed Brain." Annabeth groaned not even noticing that she used her future nickname for her husband about which the kids told them not long ago.

"Our brother had guts." Bellerophon told his brothers.

"Unfortunately is it not always good." Theseus groaned with Orion nodding from beside him.

"Percy will be the death of us." he said while Andromeda glumped, in her option was the young demigod fortunate to have gotten away with a warning.

_**He turned to look at me straight on, and I saw a kind of purplish fire in his eyes, a hint that this whiny, plump little man was only showing me the tiniest bit of his true nature. I saw visions of grape vines choking unbelievers to death, drunken warriors insane with battle lust, sailors screaming as their hands turned to flippers, their faces elongating into dolphin snouts. I knew that if I pushed him, Mr. D would show me worse things. He would plant a disease in my brain that would leave me wearing a strait-jacket in a rubber room for the rest of my life.**_

Everybody flinched while listening to this, but they knew that the gods could be dangerous if one gets on they wrong side no matter who you are, this was why the demigods were not exactly fans of reading myths about they godly-parent because they didn't want to constantly think about what they could do to them if they disrespect them.

_**"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.**_

_**"No. No, sir."**_

_**The fire died a little. He turned back to his card game. "I believe I win."**_

_**"Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."**_

"He never wins against Chiron." Malcolm said feeling slightly annoyed by the fact that Mitchell was still sitting beside him. During the break had he tried to interrogate the other about his earlier comment regards his eyes, but the only thing he got was that unnerving smile and some more compliments like how his nose scrunches up a small bit when he is thinking, how his eyes turn a lovely shade of stormy gray when he is angry and how they glint like real silver when he has figured out something or happy and more such things. In the end did he find out nothing and become only embarrassed and frustrated.

_**I thought Mr. D was going to vaporize Chiron right out of his wheelchair, but he just sighed through his nose, as if he were used to being beaten by the Latin teacher. He got up, and Grover rose, too.**_

_**"I'm tired," Mr. D said. **_

_**"I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."**_

_**Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."**_

_**Mr. D turned to me. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners."**_

_**He swept into the farmhouse, Grover following miserably.**_

_**"Will Grover be okay?" I asked Chiron.**_

"I like satyrs and that little one reminds me already to much of Pan and I haven't even met him so I will be decent to him." Dionysus said at which the children of the future flinched not sure how the god would react about the fact that the Lord of the Wild had gone missing.

"Do you think that it is coincidence that the satyr who finds Pan is the one with a similar personality like him?" whispered Misty to the others who nodded.

"It really seems as if it would have been destined for it to happen like that just like by mom finding grandmother's statue." Sally whispered back as they all looked at En who nodded that she shared they suspicion.

_**Chiron nodded, though he looked a bit troubled. "Old Dionysus isn't really mad. He just hates his job. He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."**_

The scowls and angry mutterings started again.

_**"Mount Olympus," I said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"**_

_**"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Percy, just as the gods do."**_

_**"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"**_

_**"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West."**_

_**"The what?"**_

_**"Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? **_

_**No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade,**_

"If no one makes some dumb mistakes like property restriction." Enysswe mumbled while the Romans shifted in they seats as both Chiron and Lupa bowed they heads slightly remembering those gods and goddesses who will be fading in the future.

_**not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know- or as I hope you know, since you passed my course- the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps- Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on- but the same forces, the same gods."**_

"Yes, we see the result of that shifting about which we were told." Athena said as she looked over at the Roman demigods.

_**"And then they died."**_

"Immortal Perce."

_**"Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England.**_

"Ah, looks as if we will be having fun travelling." Apollo said finally over his embarrassment.

_**All you need to do is look at the architecture.**_

_**People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places.**_

_**Like it or not- and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either**_

"HEY!" yelled the Roman demigods while they parents looked at them with raised eyebrows.

"What does that mean?" Hera asked at which Lupa looked at the council.

"The Roman Empire was a military state founded by a child of Lord Ares, they were excellent and efficient fighters who concurred all states they had come across and forced them to become a part of the Roman Empire." Lupa explained while Ares grinned at the thought of one of his sons raising a strong empire.

_**- America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."**_

_**It was all too much, especially the fact that I seemed to be included in Chiron's we, as if I were part of some club.**_

_**"Who are you, Chiron? Who ... who am I?"**_

"My son of course." Poseidon said grinning at which some rolled they eyes or snickered at his antics, the tension from before was slowly starting to dissolve.

_**Chiron smiled. He shifted his weight as if he were going to get up out of his wheelchair, but I knew that was impossible. He was paralyzed from the waist down.**_

_**"Who are you?" he mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to 'meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be smores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."**_

"I would say you are obsessed with it." Lupa said while the Greek demigods nodded in agreement.

"Aren't they cute?" Aphrodite whispered to both her husband and lover who both shook they heads at this.

"Those sound like fun." Felix said while looking at his friends who nodded, they didn't have such things in they camp.

_**And then he did rise from his wheelchair. But there was something odd about the way he did it. His blanket fell away from his legs, but the legs didn't move. His waist kept getting longer, rising above his belt. At first, I thought he was wearing very long, white velvet underwear, but as he kept rising out of the chair, taller than any man, I realized that the velvet underwear wasn't underwear; it was the front of an animal, muscle and sinew under coarse white fur. And the wheelchair wasn't a chair. It was some kind of container, an enormous box on wheels, and it must've been magic, because there's no way it could've held all of him. A leg came out, long and knobby-kneed, with a huge polished hoof. Then another front leg, then hindquarters, and then the box was empty, nothing but a metal shell with a couple of fake human legs attached.**_

_**I stared at the horse who had just sprung from the wheelchair: a huge white stallion. But where its neck should be was the upper body of my Latin teacher, smoothly grafted to the horse's trunk.**_

_**"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."**_

"I can only agree with myself that thing gets really uncomfortable after a while." Chiron said with a small smile on his lips.

"This was the end of the chapter." Andromeda said.

"Then I will read the next chapter." Odysseus offered to the princess who handed him the book.

_To be continued…_

* * *

A/N: ok, like before here is a list about the new readers:

_**Mortals: **_

Jason of the Argonauts

Dr. Fredric Chase – father of Annabeth

Sue Chase – we didn't get a name for her so I made a name up for Annabeth's step-mom

Bobby and Matthew Chase – Annabeth's half-brothers

_**Demigods:**_

_Children of Apollo – _Orpheus, Lee, Michael

_Children of Aphrodite – _Silena, Mitchell

_Children of Hephaestus – _Beckendorf, Jake

_Children of Dionysus – _Castor, Pollux

_Others: _Bobby – Mercury/Hermes (made up seeing how we don't know), Felix – Tyche (we needed one more Roman), Bellerophon – Poseidon

_**Legacies: **_

Odysseus – Hermes

_**Trainers of heroes:**_

Chiron – Greek

Lupa – Roman

Also to remind Jason Grace will go by Jay, Michael Valdez – Mich and Bobby (demigod) – Trickster.


	7. Lord of what?

A/N: still open for suggestions also the title for the next book after The House of Hades is made up, I will change it when we know the actual title of the fifth book till then I think is seems fitting if we really get to the battle.

* * *

VII. Lord of what?

Looking down at the new chapter title needed Odysseus to raise an eyebrow and to refrain himself from shaking his head. Really, the daughter of his Wise Lady had truly an interesting taste in young men, but of course would he not mention that out loud. He had seen what that girl with the tricoloured eyes could have done so he didn't wish to risk irking her wrath.

A Mortal Goddess indeed, though her purpose was veiled in front of him, but looking at her something told him that it was not positive, but carry a great meaning in the future.

_**I Become Supreme Lord of the Bathroom**_

At this broke many out laughing at the title while Ace had a scowl on his face knowing what would be happening to his mother in this chapter.

"I love Percy's titles." Travis gasped.

After the laughter died down could Odysseus continue in his reading, but even he had a small smile on his lips.

_**Once I got over the fact that my Latin teacher was a horse,**_

"I'm a centaur and not a horse." Chiron said slightly offended while Lupa rolled her silver eyes.

"Keep quiet Chiron, at least half of you is a horse so the boy was pretty accurate for someone who is probably still confused and coming down from a shock." the wolf chided him before turning back to the book, the demigods of both camps only snickered at the look Chiron had on his face as he tried to come up with a comeback, but could not.

"I'm still not a horse." he pouted which made Lupa roll her eyes again and shift her tail to rest beside her other side.

"Grow up, you had enough decades for that." she replied back while Apollo and Hermes laughed, the other gods were only smirking at the pair.

"Never knew that Lupa could be like this." Trickster whispered to the others who nodded in amusement.

_**we had a nice tour, though I was careful not to walk behind him.**_

"Huh?" Chiron asked while Odysseus shook his head, this guy had a knack to be amusing.

_**I'd done pooper-scooper patrol in the Macy's Thanksgiving**__**Day Parade a few times, and, I'm sorry, I did not trust Chiron's back end the way I trusted his front.**_

"Excuse me!" Chiron broke out in embarrassment while all around him the others broke out laughing which took a good five minutes to calm down enough so that the King of Ithaca could continue with the reading, but even then could a few stray snickers still be heard.

_**We passed the volleyball pit. Several of the campers nudged each other. One pointed to the minotaur horn I was carrying. Another said, "That's **__**him**__**."**_

_**Most of the campers were older than me. Their satyr friends were bigger than Grover, all of them trotting around in orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts, with nothing else to cover their bare shaggy hindquarters. I wasn't normally shy, but the way they stared at me made me uncomfortable. I felt like they were expecting me to do a flip or something.**_

"Were we?" Connor asked the nine behind them.

"Some of you might have the others not so sure." Misty told her dad.

"Also now he can deal better with stares whenever he gets surrounded by his fans." Luke laughed, but waved that they will understand after the books are done.

_**I looked back at the farmhouse. It was a lot bigger than I'd realized—four stories tall, sky blue with white trim, like an upscale seaside resort. I was checking out the brass eagle**_

All Romans sat up straighter at this.

_**weather vane**__**on top when something caught my eye, a shadow in the uppermost window of the attic gable. Something had moved the curtain, just for a second, and I got the distinct impression I was being watched.**_

The Greek demigods all shuddered knowing what was up there and that it moved, this was worse then a horror movie while Chiron looked intrigued. This was certainly something that hasn't happened since seventy years when that poor girl passed away and the Oracle refused to switch into a new body.

"What is wrong with you?" Felix asked as he noticed the strange reactions from the other group.

"Don't worry, you will understand soon." Henry said while exchanging a look with Enysswe.

_**What's up there?" I asked Chiron.**_

_**He looked where I was pointing, and his smile faded. "Just the attic."**_

_**"Somebody lives there?"**_

_**"No," he said with finality. "Not a single living thing."**_

All Greek demigods of the future shuddered again, but they were all nodding at which the Romans looked nervous while Apollo looked thoughtful, something in the back of his mind seemed to whisper to him that this had something to do with his Oracle, but he didn't know what, the picture was not clear.

_**I got the feeling he was being truthful. But I was also sure something had moved that curtain.**_

"Percy, please stop already with the thoughts about the attic in the Big House." Katie pleaded while she hung to the closest person beside her who happened to be a bet red Travis.

_**"Come along, Percy," Chiron said, his lighthearted tone now a little forced. "Lots to see."**_

"He is observant, that is a good trait for a demigod, it ensures they survival." Lupa said approvingly while Chiron nodded beside her.

_**We walked through the strawberry fields, where campers were picking bushels of berries while a satyr played a tune on a reed pipe.**_

"That would be our cabin." Katie said as she finally noticed to whom she was clinging and immediately let go before glaring at Silena who was beaming at her.

"Good, working on the fields is healthy, Kore also tended to do that before that unfortunate incident." Demeter sniffed while Hades rolled his eyes at his sister.

"Mother, my name is Persephone and my marriage was _not _an unfortunate incident, so leave it finally." Persephone snapped as she pulled in demonstration closer to her husband.

_**Chiron told me the camp grew a nice crop for export to New York restaurants **_

At this looked both Fredric and Sue together they didn't know that it is the camp from where most of the restaurants get they strawberries, pretty good ones to boot.

_**and Mount Olympus. "It pays our expenses," he explained. "And the strawberries take almost no effort."**_

_**He said Mr. D had this effect on fruit-bearing plants: they just went crazy when he was around.**_

"They do that around us also." Pollux said while Trickster started to suddenly look Dakota over who scooted somewhat away from him looking weirded out.

"What are you doing?" he questioned the other.

"I was just thinking how now I have found the perfect method to grow my favourite blueberries." was his only reply.

"You will not put him in the middle of blueberry bushes and make him stand there all day long." surprisingly Octavian spoke up with an annoyed expression. "I mean…Dakota needs to take care about the Fifth Cohort, he can't leave all the work to Gwendolyn." he corrected himself which made his fellow legionaries relax that he sounded normal again while by the thrones Aphrodite beamed like a little kid on Christmas morning.

_**It worked best with wine grapes, but Mr. D was restricted from growing those,**_

Cue growls and glares at Zeus who motioned to Odysseus that he should hurry up and continue.

_**so they grew strawberries instead.**_

_**I watched the satyr playing his pipe. His music was causing lines of bugs to leave the strawberry patch in every direction, like refugees fleeing a fire.**_

Again the Romans looked together; the fauns were really useful creatures.

_**I wondered if Grover could work that kind of magic with music.**_

At this all those who had heard Grover play snorted.

"Well, he will get better, but it will take a long time." Sally said at which the others nodded.

_**I wondered if he was still inside the farmhouse, getting chewed out by Mr. D.**_

_**"Grover won't get in too much trouble, will he?" I asked Chiron. "I mean ... he was a good protector. Really."**_

_**Chiron sighed. He shed his tweed jacket and draped it over his horses back like a saddle. "Grover has big dreams, Percy. Perhaps bigger than are reasonable.**__**To reach his goal, he must first demonstrate great courage by succeeding as a keeper, finding a new camper and bringing him safely to Half-Blood Hill."**_

"So this is what a keeper is." mused Reyna.

_**"But he did that!"**_

_**"I might agree with you," Chiron said. "But it is not my place to judge. Dionysus and the Council of Cloven Elders must decide. I'm afraid they might not see this assignment as a success.**_

"Whatever, as I see it count Pan's and my voice more then that of those council members." Dionysus said while Hermes nodded whole heartedly, the younger demigods on the other hand did they best to not flinch all too visibly.

_**After all, Grover lost you in New York. Then there's the unfortunate ... ah ... fate of your mother. And the fact that Grover was unconscious when you dragged him over the property line. The council might question whether this shows any courage on Grover's part."**_

Cue growls and angry mutterings form all those who knew Grover which made the Romans exchange nervous glances with each other.

_**I wanted to protest. None of what happened was Grover's fault. I also felt really, really guilty. If I hadn't given Grover the slip at the bus station, he might not have gotten in trouble.**_

_**"He'll get a second chance, won't he?"**_

Annabeth flinched at his much to the concern of her parents as the gods remembered that she would have been dead if not for the satyr.

"This was his second chance Seaweed Brain." she whispered sadly the nickname coming easily to her.

_**Chiron winced. "I'm afraid that **__**was **__**Grover's second chance, Percy. The council was not anxious to give him another, either, after what happened the first time, five years ago.**_

Again Annabeth winched.

_**Olympus knows, I advised him to wait longer before trying again. He's still so small for his age..."**_

_**"How old is he?"**_

_**"Oh, twenty-eight."**_

At this looked a few people confused.

_**"What! And he's in sixth grade?"**_

_**"Satyrs mature half as fast as humans, Percy. Grover has been the equivalent of a middle school student for the past six years."**_

_**"That's horrible."**_

"We agree!" come it from most demigods, some of the gods and Annabeth's two younger brothers.

_**"Quite," Chiron agreed. "At any rate, Grover is a late bloomer, even by satyr standards, and not yet very accomplished at woodland magic. Alas, he was anxious to pursue his dream. Perhaps now he will find some other career..."**_

_**"That's not fair," I said. "What happened the first time? Was it really so bad?"**_

Cue flinch from Annabeth while her brother tried to comfort her.

_**Chiron looked away quickly. "Let's move along, shall we?"**_

"Subtle change of the subject." Lupa told her colleague who blushed.

_**But I wasn't quite ready to let the subject drop. Something had occurred to me when Chiron talked about my mother's fate, as if he were intentionally avoiding the word **__**death. **__**The beginnings of an idea—a tiny, hopeful fire—started forming in my mind.**_

"Uhoh…I have a bad feeling that I know what he is planning to do." Orpheus said nervously as he looked at the two rulers of the Underworld whose eyes also shone up in recogrinacion at which Hades groaned.

"Somehow, I think I may also know." Dionysus said while by the couch holding the heroes of the past also Hercules and Odysseus looked up, the later not even needing to read ahead to know what was going through the young hero's head.

"What?" Poseidon asked nervously, but when he looked at his older brother he groaned. "Perseus Jackson, I forbid you to go to the Underworld young man, you are too young to meet your uncle like that!"

"Sorry, granddad, but even before he went down there to visit uncle Nico and aunt Hazel had he gone there, you remember him learning first hand the difference between Charon and Chiron?" Luke asked they grandfather who was now groaning again in his throne while Amphitrite patted him on the shoulder.

_**"Chiron," I said. "If the gods and Olympus and all that are real ..."**_

_**"Yes, child?"**_

_**"Does that mean the Underworld is real, too?"**_

Cue more groans from the groups.

"I'm starting to understand what you meant Orion." Bellerophon said while massaging his forehead.

_**Chiron's expression darkened.**_

_**"Yes, child." He paused, as if choosing his words carefully. "There is a place where spirits go after death. But for now ... until we know more ... I would urge you to put that out of your mind."**_

_**"What do you mean, 'until we know more'?"**_

"We would also like to know that!" yelled everyone except the nine legacies and the two older Chases, though Mr. Chase looked curious.

_**"Come, Percy. Let's see the woods."**_

"I agree with the wolf-lady, you need classes in changing topic." Hermes said disappointedly before looking over at the demigods. "Boys."

"Already on it dad." Chris said while gesturing to Connor who was writing something in a black note book.

_**As we got closer, I realized how huge the forest was. It took up at least a quarter of the valley, with trees so tall and thick, you could imagine nobody had been in there since the Native Americans.**_

_**Chiron said, "The woods are stocked, if you care to try your luck, but go armed."**_

_**"Stocked with what?" I asked. "Armed with what?"**_

"Stocked with monsters and armed with weapons of course, doing it the other way around would be not the best idea." Connor said while putting away his notebook.

"Why do you have a forest stocked with monsters?" asked Reyna with a raised eyebrow.

"They use them for training." Lupa informed her at which the daughter of Bellona nodded in understanding.

_**"You'll see. Capture the flag is Friday night.**_

"It is like the War Games by us." Nathan supplied to the Roman demigods who suddenly remembered it having been mentioned by the kids a few chapters ago.

_**Do you have your own sword and shield?"**_

_**"My own—?"**_

_**"No," Chiron said. "I don't suppose you do. I think a size five will do. I'll visit the armory later."**_

_**I wanted to ask what kind of summer camp had an armory, **_

"A good camp for demigods needs they own armory." Jake said proudly, most of those weapons there had been made by them or they siblings who had come to camp before them.

_**but there was too much else to think about, so the tour continued. We saw the archery range, the canoeing lake, the stables (which Chiron didn't seem to like very much),**_

There was a good number of snorts both in and outside the palace.

_**the javelin range, the sing-along amphitheatre,**_

Apollo and his children grinned at this.

_**and the arena where Chiron said they held sword and spear fights.**_

Now it were Ares, Clarisse and Ace who were grinning.

_**Oh, yes, and there's the mess hall."**_

_**Chiron pointed to an outdoor pavilion framed in white Grecian columns on a hill overlooking the sea. There were a dozen stone picnic tables. No roof. No walls.**_

"That sounds really petty, but what do you do when it starts to rain?" Gwen asked with a raised eyebrow at which the other demigods only snickered.

"Don't worry, all of us have asked the same question at least once after getting to camp, you will probably read about it soon." Mitchell said smiling at his sister who still looked just as confused as her comrades and the others from the past.

_**"What do you do when it rains?" I asked.**_

"See."

_**Chiron looked at me as if I'd gone a little weird.**_

_**"We still have to eat, don't we?" I decided to drop the subject.**_

_**Finally, he showed me the cabins. There were twelve of them,**_

"Not anymore." Misty said while outside some of the minor gods and goddesses scowled a bit, but Hecate, Sophrosyne, Ariadne, Arete and the children of Nyx went to calm them telling them that they should hear all the books till the end and if nothing changes then this is one of the things they will make different.

_**nestled in the woods by the lake. They were arranged in a U, with two at the base and five in a row on either side. And they were without doubt the most bizarre collection of buildings I'd ever seen.**_

Some were leaning forth in they seats to hear a bit more.

_**Except for the fact that each had a large brass number above the door (odds on the left side, evens on the right), they looked absolutely nothing alike. Number nine had smokestacks, like a tiny factory.**_

"Ours." said Jake and Beckendorf at the same time while Hephaestus smiled proudly that the cabin of his children was mentioned first.

_**Number four had tomato vines on the walls and a roof made out of real grass.**_

"Mine." Katie said smiling before hitting both Travis and Connor on the back of they heads.

"Hey, what was that for?" the brothers asked while rubbing they heads.

"For placing chocolate bunnies and eggs on our roof last Easter." she growled at which everyone from the future snickered while those from the past asked themselves what 'Easter' was.

_**Seven seemed to be made of solid gold, **_

"Let me guess whom that belongs to." Artemis said as she looked over to her brother while three of his sons grinned at the mention of they cabin.

_**which gleamed so much in the sunlight it was almost impossible to look at.**_

"And I stand correct."

"Oh, come on little sis, cheer up." Apollo said while his twin glared at him.

"First don't call me 'sis' and second we are twins with me older with three minutes." she growled before gesturing to Odysseus to continue before her brother could say something.

"Say En, I always wondered is the Apollo cabin really made out of gold or does it reflect the light of the sun, one can never tell even when it is night and you aren't threatened to be blinded by it." whispered Mich.

"It is both actually." was her simple reply.

_**They all faced a commons area about the size of a soccer field, dotted with Greek statues, fountains, flower beds, and a couple of basketball hoops (which were more my speed).**_

_**In the center of the field was a huge stone-lined firepit. Even though it was a warm afternoon, the hearth smoldered. A girl about nine years old was tending the flames, poking the coals with a stick.**_

"He saw me?" Hestia asked stunned, usually only powerful demigods could note her presence when she was tending to the hearts around the known civilization. Her siblings only smiled at her warmly.

_**The pair of cabins at the head of the field, numbers one and two, looked like his-and-hers mausoleums,**_

At this bit most of the Greek demigods on they tongues that they don't break out laughing as both Zeus and Hera frowned while outside was no one holding themselves back and were rolling on the floor in amusement.

_**big white marble boxes with heavy columns in front. Cabin one was the biggest and bulkiest of the twelve. Its polished bronze doors shimmered like a hologram, so that from different angles lightning bolts seemed to streak across them.**_

_**Cabin two was more graceful somehow, with slimmer columns garlanded with pomegranates and flowers. The walls were carved with images of peacocks.**_

_**"Zeus and Hera?" I guessed.**_

_**"Correct," Chiron said.**_

_**"Their cabins look empty."**_

_**Several of the cabins are. That's true. No one ever stays in one or two."**_

At this many jaws dropped both in and outside of the palace, the fact that Hera's cabin was empty they could understand, but that Zeus's cabin…was the Armageddon in front of them?

"Excuse me, but one of my sons is sitting right here so why is my cabin empty?" Zeus demanded before flinching and looking carefully at his fuming wife.

"I also doubt seeing Jay here that his current problem will be permanent." Hera said at which everyone looked questioningly at a blushing Zeus who didn't dare meeting anyone's eyes.

"What do you mean Lady Hera?" Jason asked the Queen who had a small smirk on her lips which suddenly made Artemis also smile smugly.

"Let's just say that Lady Nyx made certain that my dear husband remembers to never again set a hand on one of her children and descendants." Hera said smirking before continuing much to the dismay of her King. "I don't know what she did to him, we had only seen a good number of shooting stars crashing down and heard screams, but since that has a certain person on a good deal of occasions a little problem with a small success rate to boot."

There was a short silence before all men let out a painful yelp and crossed the legs protectively while the females all nodded in agreement about the revenge Zeus got form the angered mother.

"As for why some cabins are empty you will be cleared up soon." Enysswe said with a satisfied smirk on her lips, she perfectly agreed with her great-grandmother.

"Though I need to mention that even if my dad and me sleep in that cabin when we visit camp erm…it is not exactly the best place to sleep in." Nathan said in an apologetic voice to his grandfather.

"Why is that?" Zeus asked in confusion while the campers also listened curiously mostly Jay, he wanted to know why he doesn't like sleeping in his dad's cabin.

"Well it is all great and cool in there, but you have a statue in there which well, if you try to sleep the statue gives you the constant feeling that you are seconds about to blast everyone in the cabin with your lightning bolt." Nathan explained, really hoping that on the tournament week he can get his mom to allow him to sleep in the Big House like her, his grandmum Enyo really needed some Greek demigod kids for a second cabin option for him.

Meanwhile looked was Zeus busy spluttering while his family laughed at him that his statue creeps his own family out when they want to sleep, the demigods tried not to be amused, but the expression on Jay's face was making that really hard.

"Odysseus." Zeus finally managed to get out to stop his further embarrassment.

_**Okay. So each cabin had a different god, like a mascot.**_

_**Twelve cabins for the twelve Olympians. But why would some be empty?**_

Those who didn't know nodded, but the guys still had they legs closed.

_**I stopped in front of the first cabin on the left, cabin three.**_

"Let me guess, it is mine?" Poseidon asked when noting the smile of his grandchildren.

"Yes it is Lord Poseidon; it may be that you are calling him." Annabeth said, she didn't know why she thought this, but something told her that she was right.

_**It wasn't high and mighty like cabin one, but long and low and solid. The outer walls were of rough gray stone studded with pieces of seashell and coral, as if the slabs had been hewn straight from the bottom of the ocean floor. **_

"Knowing my husband it probably was." Amphitrite supplied.

_**I peeked inside the open doorway and Chiron said, "Oh, I wouldn't do that!"**_

"I will let him when we finally meet." Chiron said, so they had found the child of the prophecy and seeing that also a new generation is sitting here seem things to have turned out well for they survival.

_**Before he could pull me back, I caught the salty scent of the interior, like the wind on the shore at Montauk. The interior walls glowed like abalone. There were six empty bunk beds with silk sheets turned down.**_

"That sounds nice." chorused all present sons of the Sea God while the Greek demigods looked interested, they had not known how the first three of the cabins look like on the inside, but at least now they knew that cabin three sounded pretty cool.

_**But there was no sign anyone had ever slept there.**_

Cue confused looks from those who didn't know about the oath.

_**The place felt so sad and lonely, I was glad when Chiron put his hand on my shoulder and said, "Come along, Percy."**_

_**Most of the other cabins were crowded with campers.**_

At this Demeter shifted in her seat uncomfortably when spotting the gaze of her daughter while Hera shook her head at her family.

_**Number five was bright red—**_

Both Clarisse and Ace grinned at this while the Greek campers remembered that this was the colour the Ares cabin had painted they walls last week it was interesting to watch them.

_**a real nasty paint job, as if the color had been splashed on with buckets and fists.**_

And the grins dropped while the others nodded remembering the show.

"We go the job done and it was fun to do." Clarisse snapped and no one dared to say a word, well Michael would have, but both Lee and Will covered his mouth.

"So that is my cabin?" Ares asked his daughter, still not sure what to make about her.

"Yes it is." she replied.

_**The roof was lined with barbed wire. A stuffed wild boar's head hung over the doorway, and its eyes seemed to follow me.**_

Ares grinned at this; he liked how the cabin sounded while outside both Phobos and Deimos were whining about that they want to be there.

"And this was before they got the landmines hidden in front of it." Lance said while shaking his head.

"Landmines!" yelled the Greeks, but only Clarisse sounded happy at the news, the others looked slightly pale, mostly those who spent a good deal of they time in the infirmary putting people back together.

"What are those?" Ares asked in excitement.

"Let's just say that if you step on one it will easily blast of your leg if you are lucky, if not your whole body." explained Malcolm to an eager looking War God.

"I like what mortals make in the future." Ares said grinning like a maniac.

"And my family says that I'm the psychopath of the family…ugh…those mines will give me soo much paperwork and traffic jams that need to be taken care of." Hades whispered to his wife who patted his hand in sympathy.

_**Inside I could see a bunch of mean-looking kids, both girls and boys, **_

"Wait…what?" Ares suddenly looked pale again.

"Uhm…I have currently six sisters." Clarisse elaborated to her father who looked kind of panicked again while outside both Deimos and Phobos started gapping at the idea of sisters.

_**arm wrestling and arguing with each other while rock music blared. The loudest was a girl maybe thirteen or fourteen. She wore a size XXXL CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt under a camouflage jacket.**_

Slowly the campers eyes travelled to Clarisse who looked behind them at the legacies who nodded to her that he was talking about her.

_**She zeroed in on me and gave me an evil sneer. She reminded me of Nancy Bobofit,**_

"The Hades I do." Clarisse snapped while the ruler of the Underworld leaned back in his chair.

"Why do people use my name as a curse word?" no one could exactly answer him.

_**though the camper girl was much bigger and tougher looking,**_

"I would finish of that girl in a matter of seconds." Clarisse growled threateningly while the Roman campers decided that they were happy that the children of Mars acted a bit more calmer then the children of his Greek counterpart.

_**and her hair was long and stringy, and brown instead of red.**_

_**I kept walking, trying to stay clear of Chiron's hooves. "We haven't seen any other centaurs," I observed.**_

_**"No," said Chiron sadly. "My kinsmen are a wild and barbaric folk, **_

_**I'm afraid. You might encounter them in the wilderness, or at major sporting events. But you won't see any here."**_

"Well, I think you will need to agree in some of these books that the Party Ponies are pretty useful Chiron." Lance said grinning.

"What do you mean?" Chiron asked, by best will could he not imagine a time when his relatives were useful for anything other then rioting parties.

"The next book will have a nice example in it." replied Misty for her cousin.

"Can you at least tell us what the next book is called?" Mitchell asked curiously.

"Sure, the next book is called Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters." Nathan said at which all the gods stiffened while both Jason and Odysseus chocked on they breathe and needed to be patted on the back by those sitting closest to them.

"Great, just great, my son will visit that place, hopefully will the rest of the book titles not be this bad." Poseidon said, but then noticed the looks the kids were exchanging. "Fine, what are the other titles, let's get over with at least those." he said.

"Uh…ok, but you should know that when the ten books were made had the Muses placed them into two series with two main titles the first five books belong into the series the Muses named _Percy Jackson and the Olympians _while the other was named _Percy Jackson and the Heroes of Olymphos_." everyone nodded slowly at this while Henry continued the explanation. "The first book of this in the first series is the one we are currently reading the _Lightning Thief_ while the second is _The Sea of Monsters_ after that come _The Titan's Curse, Battle of the Labyrinth_ and _The Last Olympian_ while the other series consists from the books titled _The Lost Hero, The Son of Neptune, The Mark of Athena, The House of Hades_ and _The Oath of Heroes_." he finished.

"Wonderful, most of those titles sound terrible and of course my son will have a mayor role in all of them." Poseidon moaned while his sons exchanged worried glances, they will have all gray hair when they finish these books.

"Uhm…those titles definitely sound interesting…" Annabeth said carefully, but at least she kind of had a clue how Percy will get so many titles which they children said he has if he plays a major role in all of these books.

"Also the Roman part of the group will be present in the second series." Nathan said to the campers in violet who nodded uneasily, those titles made them kind of nervous.

_**"You said your name was Chiron. Are you really ..."**_

_**He smiled down at me. **__**"The **__**Chiron from the stories? Trainer of Hercules and all that? Yes, Percy, I am."**_

Hercules smiled at his mentor that he had mentioned him.

_**"But, shouldn't you be dead?"**_

"His father's tact." Amphitrite said with a fond smile while Poseidon blushed and looked apologetic at his half-brother who only shook his head that it was fine.

_**Chiron paused, as if the question intrigued him. "I honestly don't know about **__**should **__**be. The truth is, I **__**can't **__**be dead. You see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. I could continue the work I loved. I could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me.**_

At this smiled the heroes of the past at they old teacher glad that he could still do what he was best at.

"And you will be forever needed Chiron." Annabeth said to the man who had in the past years become like a father-figure to her making her father flinch as he heard the affection in her tone.

_**I gained much from that wish ... and I gave up much. But I'm still here, so I can only assume I'm still needed."**_

_**I thought about being a teacher for three thousand years. It wouldn't have made my Top Ten Things to Wish For list.**_

"Not all are cut out to play teachers for all eternity." Lupa said while looking at the children. "Immortality can be interesting, but one should also always consider the prize one will pay." the children nodded.

_**"Doesn't it ever get boring?"**_

_**"No, no," he said. "Horribly depressing, at times, but never boring."**_

_**"Why depressing?"**_

_**Chiron seemed to turn hard of hearing again.**_

_**"Oh, look," he said. "Annabeth is waiting for us."**_

Annabeth blushed at this while some snickered as her father frowned.

"Way to change the subject Chiron." Hermes snickered while Chiron blushed; he really was bad at changing topics.

_**The blonde girl I'd met at the Big House was reading a book in front of the last cabin on the left, number eleven.**_

_**When we reached her, she looked me over critically, like she was still thinking about how much I drooled.**_

Annabeth groaned while the snickers started again.

_**I tried to see what she was reading, but I couldn't make out the title. I thought my dyslexia was acting up. Then I realized the title wasn't even English. The letters looked Greek to me. I mean, literally Greek.**_

_**There were pictures of temples and statues and different kinds of columns, like those in an architecture book.**_

"Because it probably was knowing Annabeth's obsession with architecture." Katie said to the still flustered girl.

_**"Annabeth," Chiron said, "I have masters' archery class at noon. Would you take Percy from here?"**_

_**"**__**Yes, sir."**_

_**"Cabin eleven," Chiron told me, gesturing toward the doorway. "Make yourself at home."**_

_**Out of all the cabins, eleven looked the most like a regular old summer camp cabin, with the emphasis on **__**old.**_

"Don't worry it got repainted and renovated somewhat after it was not so stuffed full." Misty said at which her dad and uncles started grinning.

_**The threshold was worn down, the brown paint peeling. Over the doorway was one of those doctor's symbols, a winged pole with two snakes wrapped around it. What did they call it... ?**_

Hermes, his kids, Athena and her children were already opening they mouths to say what it was, but Odysseus quickly read on.

_**A caduceus.**_

And they closed the mouths again looking pleased that he knew.

"George and Martha would be offended in any other case." Hermes said.

"By the way dad where are they?" Travis asked his father, he liked those two silly snakes.

"In my room, sleeping." Hermes said, he was not allowed to have them on council meetings so he always feed them before those and leaves them in his room.

_**Inside, it was packed with people, both boys and girls, way more than the number of bunk beds. Sleeping bags were spread all over on the floor. It looked like a gym where the Red Cross had set up an evacuation center.**_

"Just a question, would it kill you guys to snap your fingers and be over with it in the future?" Hermes asked while glaring at his family.

"Uh there was also the thing that some belonged to minor divinities and well seeing that someone made two not exactly good rules regards claiming." Nathan said carefully, but didn't need to elaborate as Hermes turned to glare at his father who looked uncomfortable.

"I hope that we have thanked your dad properly for solving that problem." Travis said frowning as he remembered how things were currently in they cabin.

"You did." Luke replied.

"Good, I would feel bad if I didn't." he said still frowning.

_**Chiron didn't go in. The door was too low for him. But when the campers saw him they all stood and bowed respectfully.**_

_**"Well, then," Chiron said. "Good luck, Percy. I'll see you at dinner."**_

_**He galloped away toward the archery range.**_

_**I stood in the doorway, looking at the kids. They weren't bowing anymore. They were staring at me, sizing me up. I knew this routine. I'd gone through it at enough schools.**_

_**"Well?" Annabeth prompted. "Go on."**_

_**So naturally I tripped coming in the door and made a total fool of myself.**_

Everyone laughed at the last comment.

_**There were some snickers from the campers, but none of them said anything.**_

_**Annabeth announced, "Percy Jackson, meet cabin eleven."**_

_**"Regular or undetermined?" somebody asked.**_

"I will be so glad when I don't need to hate this question anymore." Connor groaned, at least will it not take long till they will have it better.

_**I didn't know what to say, but Annabeth said, "Undetermined."**_

"And when this word doesn't fill us with dread." Chris added in while Frank felt kind of glad that even thought he didn't know his dad was he not clambered into a cabin.

_**Everybody groaned.**_

_**A guy who was a little older than the rest came forward.**_

Suddenly the legacies stiffened before Luke let out an audible groan which earned him a large deal of confused looks.

"Sorry if I will be during most of the books kind of moody, but you will soon understand what the problem is." Luke said while driving a hand through his blonde hair. "To be honest when I first found out about my namesake was I kind of sure that my parents hated me till they told me about the happenings near the end of that what you will read in the fifth book." he finished confusing everyone even more.

"Also I think the Fates have told you to not hurt anyone and that rule is important that it shall be kept so all of you should swear it on the River Styx, for those who don't know" with that Sally looked at the Romans "if one breaks the oath your karma will become pretty bad regards you safety so everyone."

"We swear on the River Styx that we will not hurt anyone no matter what we read in the books." everyone chorused as the sound of rumbling thunder filled the throne room making everyone outside look confusedly up at the sky.

"Now you can continue Odysseus." Mich said to the other who nodded.

_**"Now, now, campers. That's what we're here for. Welcome, Percy. You can have that spot on the floor, right over there."**_

_**The guy was about nineteen, and he looked pretty cool. He was tall and muscular, with short-cropped sandy hair and a friendly smile. **_

The Greek campers and Chiron were already sure who that was, but that what the children said made them both confused and nervous that something might happen.

_**He wore an orange tank top, cutoffs, sandals, and a leather necklace with five different-colored clay beads. The only thing unsettling about his appearance was a thick white scar that ran from just beneath his right eye to his jaw, like an old knife slash.**_

Now they knew for sure who that person was and tried not to flinch at the reminder of his failed quest while the legacies tried not to react to the irony that he will be only in two years returning to the same place where he had failed his quest.

_**"This is Luke," She saw me looking, and her expression hardened again. "He's your counselor, for now."**_

"So you were named after one of my sons?" Hermes asked curiously as he looked at Luke who tried to control his features.

"Yeah, both hate and like the name at the same time, depends on which story one brings up regards him." he replied with a forced smile confusing everyone even more.

_**"For now?" I asked.**_

_**"You're undetermined," Luke explained patiently. "They don't know what cabin to put you in, so you're here. Cabin eleven takes all newcomers, all visitors. Naturally, we would. Hermes, our patron, is the god of travelers."**_

Hermes and his kids nodded at this.

_**I looked at the tiny section of floor they'd given me. I had nothing to put there to mark it as my own, no luggage, no clothes, no sleeping bag. Just the Minotaur's horn. I thought about setting that down, but then I remembered that Hermes was also the god of thieves. **_

"Damn, he remembered." Hermes said at the same time as Travis, Connor and Trickster which ended with the four grinning at each other. Mostly Travis and Connor were happy that so far in the past was they dad not fanning over Luke so much and paying them also attention, but they were still kind of nervous what could have happened which involved they brother.

_**I looked around at the campers' faces, some sullen and suspicious, some grinning stupidly, some eyeing me as if they were waiting for a chance to pick my pockets.**_

_**"How long will I be here?" I asked.**_

_**"Good question," Luke said. "Until you're determined."**_

_**"How long will that take?"**_

_**The campers all laughed.**_

_**"Come on," Annabeth told me. "I'll show you the volleyball court."**_

_**"I've already seen it."**_

_**"Come on." **_

"And so starts a returning theme of aunt Annabeth dragging uncle Percy with her all the time." Misty said giggling at which Aphrodite and her daughters squalled, Mitchell was till busy admiring the blonde who was glaring at him with lovely gray eyes, while Fredric chocked again having a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach.

_**She grabbed my wrist and dragged me outside. I could hear the kids of cabin eleven laughing behind me.**_

_**When we were a few feet away, Annabeth said, "Jackson, you have to do better than that."**_

"Oh, he will soon in a few chapters." Sally said grinning; her parents were just too adorable even before they started dating.

_**"What?"**_

_**She rolled her eyes and mumbled under her breath, "I can't believe I thought you were the one."**_

Annabeth glared at those who started sniggering while her father and step-mother exchanged confused glances with each other.

_**"What's your problem?" I was getting angry now. "All I know is, I kill some bull guy—"**_

_**"Don't talk like that!" Annabeth told me. "You know how many kids at this camp wish they'd had your chance?"**_

"To get killed?" Triton asked incredulously while Odysseus held back a smirk.

_**"To get killed?"**_

"Not again!" Triton groaned while covering his face with one hand as the others around him laughed in amusement.

"It is kind of fun how uncle Triton and dad are kind of similar, this could be the ground that they end up fighting. Given time they might get the same relationship as aunt Thalia and dad." Sally whispered to her still partly sulking brother who nodded back, glad that his sister was trying to keep him afloat.

"If he finally agrees they will have enough time for that." he whispered back.

_**"To fight the Minotaur! What do you think we train for?"**_

"You children train to survive if you get attacked by a monster in the outside world." Chiron said in a stern voice as he looked at the girl he had particularly raised.

"I know Chiron, I sound so childish there." Annabeth said while handing her head, it seemed that her wish to finally go on a quest to prove herself was clouding her thinking.

_**I shook my head. "Look, if the thing I fought really was **__**the **__**Minotaur, the same one in the stories ..."**_

_**"Yes."**_

"Unfortunately." Theseus groaned.

"I'm sorry son for creating that thing." Poseidon said regretfully.

_**"Then there's only one."**_

"The only good thing." Theseus said shuddering at the thought of there being more then one Minotaur out there.

**"**_**Yes."**_

_**"And he died, like, a gajillion years ago, right? Theseus killed him in the labyrinth. So ..."**_

"Gajillion is not a word." said Athena, her children and Odysseus at the same time while Theseus beamed that his little brother remembered him.

_**"Monsters don't die, Percy. They can be killed. But they don't die."**_

_**"Oh, thanks. That clears it up."**_

_**"They don't have souls, like you and me. **_

"Even in that case can some of them be really nice and caring." Enysswe said in a confident tone, the other legacies nodding.

"You already heard about Mrs. O'Leary and you will hear about more soon." Henry said as he saw some sceptical looks coming they way.

_**You can dispel them for a while, maybe even for a whole lifetime if you're lucky.**_

"Which uncle Percy isn't." Misty said wistfully which made Poseidon and his kids pale.

_**But they are primal forces. Chiron calls them arche-types. Eventually, they re-form."**_

"So true." everyone said at the same time while the gods bowed they heads slightly.

_**I thought about Mrs. Dodds. "You mean if I killed one, accidentally, with a sword—"**_

There were some snorts at this.

_**"The Fur ... I mean, your math teacher.**_

Cue more snorts.

_**That's right. She's still out there. You just made her very, very mad."**_

"That is an understatement if I heard one." Henry said while shaking his head beside his cousin.

_**"How did you know about Mrs. Dodds?"**_

_**"You talk in your sleep."**_

"Awww you watched him sleep." Aphrodite squalled with her three children at which Annabeth blushed crimson making her father frown.

"I know mom, the Florence Nightingale effect when a nurse falls in love with they patient." Silena gushed with starry eyes before two strong arms were placed on her shoulders.

"Silena, you are in danger of starting to float up from the ground if you continue like this." Beckendorf told her calmly.

"Uh…ye..yes…" she stammered her face flushed.

"Looks like two of our kids will be in the future interested in each other." Aphrodite whispered to her husband who nodded.

_**"You almost called her something. A Fury? They're Hades' torturers, right?"**_

"Yes, they are." come it from the two rulers of the Underworld, they grandchildren and all those outside who frequented down there.

"They are also granddad's most loyal servants." Henry said at which Hades looked over at his grandson.

"What do you mean Henry?" he asked fearing that he will not like the answer, but at least he knows that he did the right thing to trust Alecto and her two sisters.

"You will see soon unfortunately." no one liked that diverting answer.

_**Annabeth glanced nervously at the ground, as if she expected it to open up and swallow her.**_

"Nah, that would only happen if one of us would be there and command it, but you need to do more then comment on what job Alecto and her sisters do." Enysswe said nonchalantly.

"Reassuring." Octavian said.

_**"You shouldn't call them by name, even here. We call them the Kindly Ones, if we have to speak of them at all."**_

_**"Look, is there anything we **__**can **__**say without it thundering?" I sounded whiny, even to myself, but right then I didn't care. "Why do I have to stay in cabin eleven, anyway? Why is everybody so crowded together? There are plenty of empty bunks right over there."**_

_**I pointed to the first few cabins, and Annabeth turned pale. "You don't just choose a cabin, Percy. It depends on who your parents are. Or ... your parent."**_

_**She stared at me, waiting for me to get it.**_

"You really should have shown him the orientation film or explained fully Chiron." Lee said sighing while Chiron nodded he really should have done that or at least told Annabeth to do the full explaining.

_**"My mom is Sally Jackson," I said.**__**"She works at the candy store in Grand Central Station. At least, she used to."**_

"We go still there to get candy on some occasions, but yes she now works as a writer." Luke said looking a bit happier that he could stop thinking about his namesake.

"That is good to hear, does she have already some published works?" Gwen asked curiously.

"Yep, a romance novel with the title _'Where the ocean and earth meet'_ and now she is working on a second book with the help of one of dad's adventures about which you will read in the _Son of Neptune_. The title of the book is _'When the eagle raises above Rome'._" Luke supplied making everyone curious about those books.

"She asked grandmother Athena to make copies in ancient Greek and Latin so that everyone in the two cities and camps can read them." Sally added in for her brother which made everyone smile knowing that they will really want to read them, the Romans were mostly eager about her second book of course.

_**"I'm sorry about your mom, Percy. But that's not what I mean. I'm talking about your other parent. Your dad."**_

_**"He's dead. I never knew him."**_

_**Annabeth sighed. Clearly, she'd had this conversation before with other kids.**_

"More then I can count, the only drawback for being in camp the longest." she said while gazing up at the constellations circling above they heads on the ceiling.

_**"Your father's not dead, Percy."**_

_**"How can you say that? You know him?"**_

"Of course she does, but at that time not conversation personally only by sight." Travis said grinning.

_**"No, of course not."**_

"You know that you are contradicting yourself right?" Malcolm asked giving up on glaring at the annoying son of Aphrodite beside him.

"Leave me alone Malcolm." Annabeth said blushing while her friends grinned at her.

_**"Then how can you say—"**_

_**"Because I know **__**you.**__**You wouldn't be here if you weren't one of us."**_

_**"You don't know anything about me."**_

_**"No?" She raised an eyebrow. "I bet you moved around from school to school. I bet you were kicked out of a lot of them."**_

_**"How—"**_

_**"Diagnosed with dyslexia. Probably ADHD, too."**_

"Mom, you are embarrassing him there." Luke said at which Fredric jumped up from his seat, his face pale.

"MOM!" he yelled in utter horror as he looked over at the siblings, now that he looked at them that boy had clearly the same hair tone like his daughter while that girl had her eyes.

"Yes _dad, _Luka and Sally who come here from the future are my children and Percy the boy we are reading about is they father and will be my husband in they time." Annabeth said to her father who was gapping at them.

"Bu…But…how old was she when…" he finally got out at which everyone looked over at the siblings.

"With all the things that complicated things for our parents they started dating when they were sixteen, they married with twenty and had me with twenty-three." Luke said much to the displeasure of his grandfather, but the demigods all nodded approvingly, with they usually short life time were those ages the best to start a family if one has the chance for it.

_**I tried to swallow my embarrassment. "What does that have to do with anything?"**_

_**"Taken together, it's almost a sure sign. The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hardwired for ancient Greek.**__**And the ADHD—you're impulsive, can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battle field reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are better than a regular mortal's. Of course the teachers want you medicated. Most of them are monsters. They don't want you seeing them for what they are."**_

All the Greek demigods from the future nodded in agreement while the Romans again were thoughtful about how much easier they had it with having New Rome were you could go to school and live normally if you don't want to join the Legion and over to Camp Jupiter. They were starting to feel a kind of respect for they Greek siblings for the way they lived in almost constant danger.

_**"You sound like ... you went through the same thing?"**_

_**"Most of the kids here did. If you weren't like us, you couldn't have survived the Minotaur, much less the ambrosia and nectar."**_

_**"Ambrosia and nectar."**_

_**"The food and drink we were giving you to make you better. That stuff would've killed a normal kid. **_

_**It would've turned your blood to fire and your bones to sand and you'd be dead. Face it. You're a half-blood."**_

"They sound delicious, but not good." Mathew whispered to his brother who nodded, he would not try begging Annabeth to give him some.

_**A half-blood.**_

_**I was reeling with so many questions I didn't know where to start.**_

_**Then a husky voice yelled, "Well! A newbie!"**_

"I would say that this would be Clarisse." said Chris and Michael at the same time before the later shoot the former a displeased look while Chris only looked confused about what the others problem was. Clarisse was only surprised that both of them figured out from so little that it was her.

_**I looked over. The big girl from the ugly red cabin**_

"It is not ugly!" yelled Ares, Clarisse and Ace while outside Phobos and Deimos did the same much to the amusement of the others present.

_**was sauntering toward us. She had three other girls behind her, all big and ugly**_

"My kids are all bulky because of they muscles, that doesn't mean that they are ugly." Ares growled while Ace nodded, beside that he saw his mom dressed once for her wedding anniversary with his dad in a red dress and she looked really stunning in that.

_**and mean looking like her, all wearing camo jackets.**_

"You know that according to dad and a few of my uncles you really look better without that jacket?" Ace asked his mom who had a faint blush while looking at an embarrassed looking Chris while Michael scowled at the other boy. Ares was also glaring at Chris, but which made Hera look with amusement at her son.

_**"Clarisse," Annabeth sighed. "Why don't you go polish your spear or something?"**_

"You usually have better comments then that." Clarisse said with a raised eyebrow, she was glad to have something other to think about then that her future son informed her that the guy she marries in the future, and is currently sitting not far from her, finding her more attractive without her usual camo jacket. She had never gotten a compliment from guys while she lived in the outside world.

"I know, I don't seem to have been on my right mind that day if all my comments before this are any indication." Annabeth said sighing she was acting so unlike her in this chapter.

"The first days when one gets a crush are always confusing." Aphrodite said sagely, but was ignored.

_**"Sure, Miss Princess," the big girl said. "So I can run you through with it Friday night."**_

"Yeah, go girl!" Ares cheered before he was attacked by a flock of owls which he turned after a few seconds of being picked at into scrap iron which he gathered up and handed his brother. "If you should get bored and want to tinker on something you usually have it easier to pay attention to the things around you." he said before sitting back down while everyone stared at him blinking, the demigods did not know that the two brothers had some kind of sibling like bond going on between them while Aphrodite looked thoughtful at her lover's words.

"Thank you." Hephaestus replied before sapping his fingers and letting some metal appear in his two sons' laps and all three went immediately to tinkering, but still listening to the book, they could really be more attentive if they hands were busy.

"No prob." his brother replied shrugging before waving his hand for Odysseus to continue, really only because he was dating his brother's wife and loved seeing his family fighting each other that didn't mean that he didn't like them.

_**''Erre es korakas!"**__**Annabeth said, **_

"Annabeth Chase, don't use such language!" Athena snapped while her daughter blushed.

"Sorry mother, I was really not myself on that day and that was _not _because of a crush." she said when she saw Aphrodite and her children open they mouths.

_**which I somehow under stood was Greek for 'Go to the crows!' though I had a feeling it was a worse curse than it sounded.**_

"Yes, it is wishing someone to literally go to my realm." Hades elaborated, no one wanted to point out to him that he was talking to a book, they didn't want to know what would happen if they did.

_**"You don't stand a chance."**_

_**"We'll pulverize you," Clarisse said, but her eye twitched. Perhaps she wasn't sure she could follow through on the threat.**_

At this Clarisse muttered something under her breath which made those sitting the closest to her slightly back away.

_**She turned toward me. "Who's this little runt?"**_

_**"Percy Jackson," Annabeth said, "meet Clarisse, Daughter of Ares."**_

_**I blinked. "Like ... the war god?"**_

At this some facepalmed while Poseidon and his sons muttered about Percy having no self-preservation at all.

"You got a problem with that?" Ares growled while Odysseus looked up from his book with a raised eyebrow before continuing to read. It seemed as if the gods personalities tended to get inherited in a good deal to they children not knowing that outside a certain set of twins said just the same as they father.

_**Clarisse sneered. "You got a problem with that?"**_

"Like father, like daughter." Apollo laughed at his slightly blushing brother and niece while outside the others were rolling on the ground at the expressions of Fear and Terror who were mortified to have said the same as they sister in the future, a girl.

"Does he have a God or Goddess guarding him all of the time, if you say that his luck is really bad and he doesn't seem to know when not to comment the wrong thing." Odysseus said as he looked at the nine legacies after having read the upcoming line in the book.

"Yup, my grandaunts the Fates find him highly entertaining, also his dad keeps constantly an eye out for him and tries to be there as much as he can use the loopholes in the rules, Lady Artemis is also much for him." Enysswe said at which some paled by the first part, Zeus scowled by the second part and then…

"Wait what!" yelled suddenly the twin archers in shock while Orion looked jealous that Artemis would favour his little brother.

"You will know why Lady Artemis likes him in the third book, it were the happening in that book that dad got the title Guardian of the Hunt, technically is he the only male who can be freely around the Hunt and even lead it if they need to split up because of something." Sally said which made Artemis sit back down pondering what a male could do that she allows him near her hunters, Apollo to decide that as long Percy doesn't make a move on his sister he wont try designating him while Orion still felt jealous, the others were only curious what could have happened in the third book before will glumped.

"Wasn't the title of the third book _The Titan's Curse_?" Will asked carefully which made Apollo look over at his twin sister worriedly, for a few seconds he saw a flash in front of his eyes, it was only for a few seconds, but he clearly saw his sister in her torn dress, shackled, golden incor dripping from her wounds, then it disappeared. He tried to hide his anxiety, but he couldn't help it, he didn't want anything to happen to his sister, she was far too important to him to let that happen.

"Continue Odysseus." Enysswe said sighing as she noticed the look in her grandfather's eyes, he will be worried for the most part of the third book when he finds out that his sister got taken.

_**"No," I said, recovering my wits. "It explains the bad smell."**_

There was a stunned silence before Poseidon and his sons groaned, some demigods and gods slapped they foreheads, Apollo and Hermes broke out laughing, the former forgetting his worry for a short time while Ares looked murderous.

"What!" he yelled together with Clarisse and Ace while outside his kids did the same as others sniggered around them.

"At least the Fates find him amusing and will keep him alive." Poseidon mumbled while massaging his forehead. "Maimed, but alive enough that he can help protecting Olympus, marry and have children." he tried reassuring himself as Amphitrite patted him again on the shoulder, yes, that demigods will truly be her champion in avenging her for all the times her husband had cheated on her.

_**Clarisse growled. "We got an initiation ceremony for newbies, Prissy."**_

All the demigods form the future shuddered at this as they remembered what type of initiation ceremonies children of the War God tended to do.

"So, this is when mom first started calling Uncle Percy by his nickname." Ace said in a thoughtful tone feeling the annoyance return, they were close now to that part of the chapter he won't like.

_**"Percy."**_

_**"Whatever. Come on, I'll show you."**_

_**"Clarisse—" Annabeth tried to say.**_

_**"Stay out of it, wise girl."**_

"Huh?" come it suddenly from the legacies as they exchanged confused glances with each other.

"What is wrong?" asked Perseus when he noticed the exchange.

"It is only that we didn't know that it was aunt Clarisse who gave dad the idea." Luke said while Clarisse blushed at the fact about being addressed as 'aunt'.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Well, we told you that you tend to call dad Seaweed Brain while his constant nickname for you is Wise Girl." Luke explained to his mother who was now exchanging surprised glances with and equally shocked daughter of Ares.

"I think that it is actually a fitting name for you." Lee said to the blonde girl who nodded slowly, the blush returning to her cheeks while her father scowled again at the daughter of his daughter marrying so young.

_**Annabeth looked pained, but she did stay out of it, and I didn't really want her help. I was the new kid. I had to earn my own rep.**_

"Unfortunately is that true." said Hermes as he looked over at his siblings, beside Ares and Hephaestus who were both born here on Olymphos needed the others of them earn they reputation when being brought to the court of they father.

_**I handed Annabeth my minotaur horn and got ready to fight, but before I knew it, Clarisse had me by the neck and was dragging me toward a cinder-block building that I knew immediately was the bathroom.**_

_**I was kicking and punching. I'd been in plenty of fights before, but this big girl Clarisse had hands like iron. **_

Clarisse grinned proudly, she did train hard every day, there was a ground why she was still the Head councillor of her cabin.

_**She dragged me into the girls' bathroom. There was a line of toilets on one side and a line of shower stalls down the other. It smelled just like any public bathroom, and I was thinking—as much as I **__**could **__**think with Clarisse ripping my hair out—that if this place belonged to the gods, they should've been able to afford classier johns.**_

"Actually, we have better bathrooms, but those seem to always appear out of nowhere when a new camper comes." Katie said frowning with the other demigods.

"We are still wondering which God tends to send it there on that day because it is not dad and it even appeared when Lord Ares was busy taking part in a war so it could not be him." Castor said while the others looked thoughtful, but had no clue which of them would be the one doing that.

_**Clarisse's friends **_

"Sisters." Clarisse corrected.

_**were all laughing, and I was trying to find the strength I'd used to fight the Minotaur, but it just wasn't there.**_

_**"Like he's 'Big Three' material," Clarisse said as she pushed me toward one of the toilets. "Yeah, right. Minotaur probably fell over laughing, he was so stupid looking."**_

_**Her friends snickered.**_

_**Annabeth stood in the corner, watching through her fingers.**_

Annabeth groaned at this while Katie hit the Stoll brothers over they heads.

_**Clarisse bent me over on my knees and started pushing my head toward the toilet bowl. It reeked like rusted pipes and, well, like what goes into toilets. **_

_**I strained to keep my head up. I was looking at the scummy water, thinking, I will not go into that. I won't.**_

_**Then something happened. I felt a tug in the pit of my stomach.**_

By the smile Poseidon and his kids were sporting were some leaning forth in they seats in amusement while Clarisse and her dad looked anything other then pleased, Ace had by this time already closed his eyes.

_**I heard the plumbing rumble, the pipes shudder. Clarisse's grip on my hair loosened. Water shot out of the toilet, making an arc straight over my head, and the next thing I knew, I was sprawled on the bathroom tiles with Clarisse screaming behind me.**_

_**I turned just as water blasted out of the toilet again, hitting Clarisse straight in the face so hard it pushed her down onto her butt. The water stayed on her like the spray from a fire hose, pushing her backward into a shower stall.**_

_**She struggled, gasping, and her friends started coming toward her.**_

_**But then the other toilets exploded, too, and six more streams of toilet water blasted them back. The showers acted up, too, and together all the fixtures sprayed the camouflage girls right out of the bathroom, spinning them around like pieces of garbage being washed away.**_

_**As soon as they were out the door, I felt the tug in my gut lessen, and the water shut off as quickly as it had started.**_

Everyone broke out into hysterical laughter at this, well except Ares, his kids, grandson and Aphrodite and her present children who were all wrinkling they noses as they imagined the scene.

"Percy is brilliant." Connor laughed with tears streaming down his eyes.

"Annabeth, brilliant pick in a guy." Travis told the blonde while holding his stomach while his dad and uncle had again fallen out of they thrones from laughing so much.

"I will pulverize that guy." Clarisse mumbled in embarrassment as she glared at everyone in her view.

_**The entire bathroom was flooded. Annabeth hadn't been spared.**_

Now was Athena also glaring with Fredric, Annabeth, Malcolm and Odysseus.

"Don't worry mom, you were hit by the shower water." Sally told her mother which lessened the glares, that sounded somewhat better then the toilets.

_**She was dripping wet, but she hadn't been pushed out the door. She was standing in exactly the same place, staring at me in shock.**_

_**I looked down and realized I was sitting in the only dry spot in the whole room. There was a circle of dry floor around me. I didn't have one drop of water on my clothes. Nothing.**_

"He only can get wet if he wants to." Poseidon explained while some of the demigods looked annoyed at the grinning sons of the Sea God.

"It is an annoying ability." Perseus mumbled as he glared at Theseus who grinned back at him.

"What do you mean son?" Zeus asked, but his son only shook his head.

"Not important." he replied before nudging Odysseus to continue which he luckily did.

_**I stood up, my legs shaky.**_

_**Annabeth said, "How did you ..."**_

_**"I don't know."**_

_**We walked to the door. Outside, Clarisse and her friends were sprawled in the mud, and a bunch of other campers had gathered around to gawk. Clarisse's hair was flattened across her face. Her camouflage jacket was sopping and she smelled like sewage. **_

_**She gave me a look of absolute hatred. "You are dead, new boy. You are totally dead."**_

"Dad really should have gotten a jar and put in one drachma whenever someone told him that." Luke whispered to Nathan who nodded in agreement with his cousin.

_**I probably should have let it go, but I said, "You want to gargle with toilet water again, Clarisse? Close your mouth."**_

"No self-preservation at all." Octavian noted while by the couch holding the heroes of old Orion looked up.

"Just like Bellerophon." he piped up while his brother glared at him.

"Great, he combines in his the personality parts of all three of his older brothers present in this room." Jason mumbled remembering his old friend and fellow Argonaut who was also a child of the Sea God, but more laid back then his brothers and with another set of his father's godly abilities.

_**Her friends had to hold her back. They dragged her toward cabin five, while the other campers made way to avoid her flailing feet.**_

_**Annabeth stared at me. I couldn't tell whether she was just grossed out or angry at me for dousing her.**_

"Probably both." Annabeth replied for her future self.

_"__**What?" I demanded. "What are you thinking?"**_

_**"I'm thinking," she said, "that I want you on my team for capture the flag."**_

"This was the end of the chapter your turn Jason." Odysseus said as he handed the book over to the other ruler who accepted it without complaint and turned to the right chapter.

"The next title is _**My Dinner Goes up in Smoke**_." which ended with the Romans looking confused while the others noded knowingly figuring out what the title stood for.

_To be continued…_


	8. Burnt food is good

A/N: and a new point crossed down from my list of things to put in to the story.

* * *

VIII. Burnt food is good

_**Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately.**_

"Of course it would with both the Aphrodite and Hermes cabins there to help out." Jake said grinning at the blushing members of both cabins before going back to his tinkering.

_**Wherever I went, campers pointed at me and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet.**_

"Annabeth you know that you could have gone back to our cabin and change clothes?" Malcolm asked his sister who blushed; she was really not on her top of that day.

"To bad that Percy doesn't know how to intentionally use his powers jet, he can dry people with a touch." Poseidon said at which the demigods looked up at him with wide eyes.

"That is really useful." Jay said to his fellow Romans, the son of Neptune didn't sound like a bad person and neither were his siblings and father.

"Since we are here have we learned that the Gods are much more relaxed in they Greek forms and some even childish." Reyna added in, she would have liked to see her mother, but she was not part of the council so she put down from that one.

"That is true, they are kind of fun." Trickster added in while looking over at Felix who nodded, he just like Reyna would have liked to see his mom no matter in which form, but at least was he in the presence of his godly grandparents.

_**She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords),**_

At this looked Hephaestus, Beckendorf and Jake up from they tinkering grinning while Mich did the same, he loved that place.

"I think the Vulcan kids would love that." Reyna mused before leaning over to where Connor sat and asked for some paper and a pen before getting back to her fellow Romans and started writing on it.

"What are you doing?" Gwen asked her praetor curiously.

"I'm making a list about the things we should do in camp when we are back, first we will do something about the fauns, they can help out in the gardens and fields, help new kids get from the Wolf House to camp and also a metal shop under the lead of Marcus and his siblings. Also we could do beside the War Games also some group building things like sitting together at least two nights a week and have some type of program by the campfire, we can talk about that later with the others. I will ad more things as they come up." Reyna said while placing the pen behind her ear like she used to when doing paperwork.

"I will help out with the fauns." Dakota said confidently if his dad liked them and was friends with the Lord of the Wild then she should now really do something as his son.

"Good." Reyna said while the others nodded in agreement even Octavian, reluctantly, but he was agreeing which made things much easier.

_**the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man),**_

"Huh?" asked a few people in confusion.

"I think he means that the satyrs made a marble statue about Pan." Annabeth said at which both Hermes and Dionysus looked a bit offended.

"That's my son/best friend!" they both yelled while Reyna added to her list, the fauns were proving to be more talented then they would have ever thought.

_**and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough.**_

"Dad's/granddad's work." come it from Beckendorf, Jake and Mich at which said god looked pleased, his work sounded like a challenging work while the Chases paled at that thing, the Romans only looked wide eyed at the Greeks.

"Is it even possible to get up on that thing if you are not the child of my mother?" Felix asked incredulously.

"Of course, you only need to have a good strategy, be observant and fast." Malcolm told him with a smile at which Mitchell scowled making his mother look at her son with an understanding smile on her lips.

_**Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins.**_

_**"I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall."**_

_**"Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets."**_

_**"Whatever."**_

_**"It wasn't my fault."**_

Everyone raised and eyebrow at this looking sceptically at the book.

_**She looked at me skeptically, and I realized it **__**was **__**my fault. I'd made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures. I didn't understand how. But the toilets had responded to me. I had become one with the plumbing.**_

Cue everyone breaking out laughing even Clarisse had a small smile on her lips, no matter how she wanted to scowl that guy had a way to make one smile.

_**You need to talk to the Oracle," Annabeth said.**_

The Greek demigods shuddered at this.

_**"Who?"**_

_**"Not who. What.**_

"Why are you calling my Oracle a what?" Apollo asked the children.

"Uhm…you will see dad." Lee replied while his brothers nodded nervously they were not sure how they dad will react when he finds out that his Oracle is a mummy.

"Okay." replied Apollo frowning as he leaned back in his throne.

_**The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron."**_

_**I stared into the lake, wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once.**_

"We will be sure to do that in after we return to our time." Chiron said reassuringly to Poseidon who had turned to him when that sentence was read.

_**I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below.**_

_**They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend.**_

"Technically could dad be called that being a son of they lord." Sally said in a thoughtful tone remembering how the naiads babysat her when she was little and would always run down to the lake.

_**I didn't know what else to do. I waved back.**_

_**"Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts."**_

"How cute, you were jealous." Silena gushed, this will be such a wonderful love story right in front of them, her siblings will love it as outside looked some naiads offended at the accusation, there was noting bed with greeting the son of they master.

"Will be not." Annabeth retorted.

"Uhm…mom." Annabeth turned around when she heard Sally's unsure voice from behind her.

"I was not jealous was I?" she asked nervously to her daughter who looked kind of sheepishly at her.

"Technically are you and uncle Will the most protective people about your husbands so you kind of were." she finished making both Annabeth and Will go a deep shade of crimson.

"Is that colour even healthy?" Demeter asked both Apollo and Athena who were looking at they children trying to figure out the answer to they aunt's question.

"I would more like to know if that colour is even possible to achieve without all blood in your body going up into your face." Jake said while looking at the two blondes before raising his eyebrows, he could have sworn he saw smoke a few seconds ago.

"Uhm…I think we should continue and let them calm down." Lee suggested while looking worriedly at his little brother when Michael started fanning Will to get his temperature down a few degrees.

"Agreed." everyone said.

_**"Naiads," I repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now."**_

"He faces both Alecto and the Minotaur, meets a God and this is what breaks him?" asked a confused looking Athena, her eyes occasionally flicking over to her still red and frozen daughter.

"He is even for demigod standards a bit strange." Luke told his grandmother with a shrug.

_**Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You **__**are **__**home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us."**_

_**"You mean, mentally disturbed kids?"**_

"Considering the things we go through one could call us mentally disturbed." Connor said snickering while the others nodded seeing where he comes from.

_**"I mean **__**not human. **__**Not totally human, anyway. Half-human."**_

_**"Half-human and half-what?"**_

_**"I think you know."**_

_**I didn't want to admit it, but I was afraid I did. I felt a tingling in my limbs, a sensation I sometimes felt when my mom talked about my dad.**_

"Your other side which wishes to break to the surface." Malcolm supplied while glancing over at his sister who was still not back to normal, but at least had the red on her cheeks lessened slightly.

_**"God," I said. "Half-god."**_

_**Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. He's one of the Olympians."**_

_**"That's ... crazy."**_

"Only for a short time." Admitted the Greek demigods, they were out of a time where not many people believed in gods and even the religious ones believed only in one god not several.

_**"Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them.**_

All divinities who were listening to this leaned back there where they were sitting and groaned, this was not something they wanted to be a prominent part of the history, the world having a bunch of tabs about your love life and your lovers.

_**Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?"**_

"Seeing how there are two camps and now also the same number of cities filled with demigods and some are even sitting here in front of us I would say no." Hera said, but managed to keep her voice natural which again pleased her, she was making progress.

The gods who had kids here all blushed and started squirming in they seats while the kids were also doing they best to not look at they parents.

_**"But those are just—" I almost said **__**myths **__**again. Then I remembered Chiron's warning that in two thousand years, **__**I **__**might be considered a myth.**_

The legacies snorted at this.

"You were way of with that number Chiron." Mich said to the old centaur who nodded.

"That seems to be true, I should have used a much smaller number in his case." he answered.

_**"But if all the kids here are half-gods—"**_

_**"Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods."**_

_**"Then who's your dad?"**_

"Wrong thing to say uncle Perce, but in his defence, there are more myths regards the affairs of the male gods then those of the goddesses for each story where a goddess starts an affair with a mortal there are nearly thirty about a god having an affair going on." Henry said at which all male gods started squirming in they seats uncomfortably while they children tried not thinking about those stories, you don't want to know about your godly parents love life punk.

_**Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling I'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject.**_

"Yes, you did." Annabeth said having finally calmed down while her father flinched, he never wanted to become a sensitive subject to his daughter.

_**"My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history."**_

_**"He's human."**_

_**"What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?"**_

"Uhm…they also go on occasions for guys, ask dad and Apollo." Hermes said while both Zeus and Apollo blushed while they kids avoided they gazes, those were also myths they didn't exactly like reading about while Will went red again and Jay remembered why exactly he avoided looking at the Aquarius constellation.

"Also as said before the only myths he would hear in school about a goddess falling in love with a male would have been about Lady Aphrodite or if a teacher really goes into detail Selene." Henry said while beside him Enysswe scowled as she remembered the myth, her granddad didn't deserve that heart break.

"I see." Artemis said nodding in understanding; it was interesting that this hero didn't try to act as a sexist like some others would.

_**"Who's your mom, then?"**_

_**"Cabin six."**_

"Chiron you really should have told me that he didn't see the video, I would have parsed this a bit better." Annabeth said sighing.

"I will show him the video when he comes to camp child or explain it better to him." Chiron said again, it was rally a bad idea to leave the boy so much in the dark, really he is starting to get careless.

_**"Meaning?"**_

_**Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle."**_

The Romans tried not to flinch at this as they remembered how they ancestors have stripped her counterpart Minerva from her role as a war goddess.

_**Okay, I thought. Why not?**_

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Athena, her children and Odysseus.

"I think it was around this time where he got into the phase when the shock and confusion started to day down." Beckendorf said frowning slightly, he was usually better in detecting what was wrong with an automaton, but noticing Lee nod at him made him more confident. His friend was much better with living things, well him being the head of the infirmary required this little fact.

"I see." replied Athena still frowning, but she was much calmer as were her children and Odysseus.

_**"And my dad?"**_

_**"Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows."**_

_**"Except my mother. She knew."**_

_**"Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities."**_

"Well, no not clear sighted mortals they often don't do that, but those who can see through the mist is it hard to not slip up." Malcolm said while the heroes of old looked together, the world will have surely changed in the future if only a few people know that the gods are walking amongst them.

_**"My dad would have. He loved her."**_

_**Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble.**_

"Turns out he had been right and his mum had really known all along." Annabeth said quietly.

_**"Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens."**_

_**"You mean sometimes it doesn't?"**_

All the gods flinched when they saw they children avoid they eyes, they will really need to do something in the future, that is much sooner then they will be.

_**Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy.**_

"One should never be to busy for they family." Hestia chided softly from her spot beside the heart as she looked at the children who had they heads bowed.

Sensing the tense mode looked Jason down to continue reading, but flinched when he saw what was standing further there, this will only make things worse, but there was no way around it so taking a deep breath before starting to read.

_**They have a lot of kids and they don't always ... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us."**_

The gods flinched again and looked panicked at they children who were still looking at the ground no matter that they know that it will change it still hurt them that the children thought that about them. They current children were looking at the younger demigods, trying to imagine how they would feel in they place if it were them.

_**I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. I'd known kids like that at Yancy Academy, shuffled off to boarding school by rich parents who didn't have the time to deal with them. But gods should behave better."**_

The legacies stood up and walked over to they parents to comfort them somewhat before the gods who did have children stood up from they thrones when catching Hestia's eyes and made they way to they children and grandchildren, gently hugging them while Persephone went over to Reyna whose mother was outside, but she still needed also an adult by her. Meanwhile was Fredric watching the exchange, the urge to go over to his daughter to hug her, but he feared that she would hide in her mother's robes like a little child if he neared her.

They all stayed like this for the coming twenty minutes after which the demigods started to squirm a bit feeling slightly awkward by the situation and signalled that they were fine now and that they should continue with they reading.

_**"So I'm stuck here," I said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?"**_

_**"It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter,**__**you're probably not a real powerful force.**_

"HEY!" exclaimed said two goddesses and they children looking offended.

"I'm sorry." Annabeth said hurriedly she had seen both cabins take revenge on the Stolls for pranks and some of those were not things she wished to experience.

_**he monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old,**_

Again the Romans shuddered, they Greek siblings had it really not all to easy while the Chases flinched as they remembered some of those monster attacks.

_**but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that."**_

Fredric looked thoughtful at this, he already knew since seeing the Diamond boy here that probably some of the most prominent models were children of Aphrodite so he wondered who else could be a demigod and who they parent could be.

_**"So monsters can't get in here?"**_

_**Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside."**_

_**"Why would anybody want to summon a monster?"**_

"It gets answered here." Jason said when he saw that some were opening they mouths to ask or to answer it depended on the group one was looking at.

_**"Practice fights. Practical jokes."**_

_**"Practical jokes?"**_

"It was never anything dangerous, but no one does that since the incident which will probably be in the next chapter." Luke growled while Sally patted him on the back and they grandfather looked pale.

"As said, he will be a bit moody till the end of the fifth book so just ignore it." she told everyone.

_**"The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm."**_

_**"So ... you're a year-rounder?"**_

_**Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors.**_

The Romans, those of the past and the Chases looked curious at this while those in orange pulled out they necklaces with the clay beads looking proud.

_**It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring.**_

Fredric looked hopeful at this, but then remembered that she confirmed that she stays all year-round and his hopes crashed down again.

_**"I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year.**_

"So your necklaces are like our stripes." Jay said as he raised his arm to reveal his SPQR tattoo with the symbol of Zeus in it.

"What does that word stand for?" Hercules asked his younger brother.

"It means Senatus Populusque Romanus meaning 'The Senate and the People of Rome'' Lupa explained to the hero who nodded with the others in understanding.

_**I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college."**_

Fredric flinched at this information while Athena frowned.

_**"Why did you come so young?"**_

_**She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business."**_

_**"Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So ... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?"**_

_**"It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission. But they wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless ..."**_

_**"Unless?"**_

_**"You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time …"**_

_**Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well.**_

The ones who knew what that quest was about and what went wrong flinched again.

_**"Back in the sick room," I said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—"**_

_**"Ambrosia."**_

_**"Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice."**_

_**Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you **__**do **__**know something?"**_

_**"Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?"**_

_**She clenched her fists.**_

_**"I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so **__**normal**__**."**_

_**"You've been to Olympus?"**_

Only the newcomers looked confused at that the others had already heard about that a few chapters ago.

_**"Some of us year-rounders—Luke **_

The legacies scowled at this, but mostly they Luke.

_**and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council."**_

_**"But... how did you get there?"**_

_**"The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at me like she was sure I must know this already.**_

"So this is were Olymphos is in our time?" Felix asked in surprise.

"Actually both of the camps got place strategically to the places they are now, Camp Half-Blood is there to guard Olymphos seeing how the original form of the Gods is Greek while Camp Jupiter was placed in San Francisco to guard Mount Tam." Nathan told the demigods.

"Why do they guard Mount Tamalpais?" Fredric asked in confusion seeing how he had always liked San Francisco and planned to work there if he gets the chance.

"Uhm…in our time is it the place where Mount Othrys is placed." Henry said for his fellow praetor at which the room seemed to have turned a bit colder as all the gods went rigid at the mention of Kronos's dark castle.

"Ugh…nice to know." Dakota said shuddering while behind him the other demigods exchanged unsure glances before looking at they trainers who nodded gravely that the children were correct they camps were placed in they camps were placed since the first shifting of the Western Civilization so that they could guard those two places.

At the same time exchanged the heroes of old grateful looks that they had never been burdened with such hard tasks like they younger siblings will be.

_**"You **__**are **__**a New Yorker, right?"**_

_**"Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out.**_

"Someone really should have told me that he hadn't seen the Orientation video." Annabeth groaned not only was she confusing the poor guy, but also coming over as bossy and slightly rude and she just knew how she would act when she finds out that his dad is the rival of her mom. Talk about a complicated start of things.

_**"Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping ... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. **_

"Of course." said both Athena and Ares at the same time.

"I represent the bloody and chaotic side of war, the bloodlust it brings." Ares said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"And I represent on the other had the strategical and logical side of war, we kind of balance each other out." Athena said while the Romans were again trying to not squirm all to noticeably on they sitting spot, they had kind of made Mars the Roman counterpart of Ares into a male Athena, they never knew that the two stood for the balance of war together.

_**And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon.**_

"And we can see how that turned out in the end." Silena said teasingly as everyone looked over at a blushing Luke and Sally.

"Please don't even remind me" Athena groaned as she leaned back in her throne sighing. ", but as I was told I will wait till the end of the last book to decide if I approve or not." she finished before waving to Jason to continue.

_**But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together.**_

"Oh, you will do so much more then work together." Aphrodite said suggestively at which the kids all went bet red while the adults paled.

"APHRODITE!" Artemis beat Athena in screaming. "THERE ARE MINORS HERE!" she yelled at the other goddess.

"Oh, please you would think differently if you started having a love life." Aphrodite replied back as she winked at a now blushing Orion.

"She doesn't want a love life so lay off of my sister." Apollo stepped in with a growl and sent a glare at both Aphrodite and Orion who paled slightly and hid behind his two brothers.

"Oh come on Apollo, you are usually not like that, except if you want to have something with her then of course I would understand." Aphrodite replied in a thoughtful while both Ares and Hephaestus immediately jumped up from they thrones and grabbed the twins who had they bows out.

"HE/SHE IS MY TWIN BROTHER/SISTER! I WOULD NEVER TOUCH HIM/HER LIKE THAT!" they screamed with mortified expressions which soon morphed over to pure furry making now everyone be able to see that they are really twins, mostly as they fought to be able raise they bows so that they could shoot the Goddess of Love in her pretty face.

Meanwhile watched the demigods the whole exchange wide eyed, Gwen, Silena and Mitchell looked slightly uncomfortable and apologetically over at Lee, Michael, Will and Octavian who had a sickly green colour on they faces while Enysswe shook her head to get the images out of her head, but at least had her grandfather some moral standards regards his twin sister, that was always nice to know.

"Aphrodite, I think you have gone with that comment to far and I agree with Artemis that you should not make such comments with minors present and now apologize to both Artemis and Apollo for your suggestion." Hades spoke up as he appeared near the currently blonde goddess and gave her a stern look which made her squirm in her seat.

"I'm sorry if I have offended you to, please forgive me." she said while bowing her head, the Lord of the Dead tended to make even her shudder some times if he stood close enough.

Hades only nodded before turning to his still struggling nephews and niece. "You heard her apology now all four of you sit down and let us continue reading." he told them at which the twins reluctantly nodded as they brothers carefully let them go and sat back to they thrones with Hades going back to his while Hestia smiled at him, her brother was always good with keeping order between them when they were growing up inside they father's stomach and he seemed to have retained that trait. "Continue Jason."

"Lord Hades is really good with being an authority figure." whispered Katie to Annabeth who nodded.

"With him being the oldest brother and the second oldest sibling after Lady Hestia I'm not that surprised though the managed to break that nearing war up pretty quickly." Annabeth said while looking over the gods from which the oldest ones were looking as if they were remembering something, but she didn't have time to analyze things more because Jason had started reading again.

_**I thought you might know something." I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions.**_

The atmosphere was still somewhat tense with both Apollo and Artemis still gripping they bows and glaring at Aphrodite as both her husband and boyfriend looked ready to act as her bodyguards should they half-siblings attack. The other gods only shook they head at the situation.

_**"I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm **__**not **__**too young. If they would just tell me the problem …"**_

"You are being overconfident daughter." Athena said as she shook her head and Annabeth hung her head she had also noticed.

_**I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan.**_

Said girl blushed while the others snickered, well the Apollo kids managed a weak snicker they were still trying to not think about the Love Goddess's suggestion, this sounded perfectly like something Annabeth would do.

_**Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles.**_

"Those would be mine." Hermes said grinning, but on the inside was he still thinking about what he could do to get his brother back to normal, he hated seeing Apollo angry or sad.

_**They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers.**_

"Why thank you for the compliment." chorused Hermes and his present kids and grandkids together.

"I doubt that he meant that as a compliment." Athena told Hermes.

"For me and my kids is that a compliment Thena, you are only sore about that prank when you teached me math and I pulled a prank which ended with you chasing me around Olymphos looking like a huge chicken and smelling like horse manure." Hermes replied back, he knew that he was getting himself into danger, but Apollo's laugh and Artemis's eye rolling and muttering about 'how immature boys are' was clearly worth it.

"Hermes, you better run." Athena growled as she stood up from her throne.

"Yes ma'am." he replied before jumping up from his throne and making a mad dash for the exit, proving why he was also the patron of athletes as his half-sister run after him.

"Should we wait for them or continue?" Hera asked while looking around the throne room.

"I think we should continue, they will eventually be back." Zeus said while the others nodded.

_**Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to me as I walked over to my spot on the floor and plopped down with my minotaur horn.**_

_**The counselor, Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact.**_

Everyone noticed Luke scowling and muttering something under his breath, but no one could understand what he was saying, but it kind of unsettled those who knew the Son of Hermes and could not imagine what he could have done to make a person named after him both hate and like him at the same time. This was also the first time that they noticed the conflicted expression's on Lance's, Misty's and Ace's faces, but knew better then to ask the books would eventually tell them.

_**"Found you a sleeping bag," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store."**_

_**I couldn't tell if he was kidding about the stealing part.**_

"Probably not." the demigods said at the same time.

_**I said, "Thanks."**_

_**"No prob." Luke sat next to me, pushed his back against the wall. "Tough first day?"**_

_**"I don't belong here," I said. "I don't even believe in gods."**_

_**"Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier."**_

The demigods nodded in agreement.

_**The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything.**_

_**"So your dad is Hermes?" I asked.**_

_**He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, and for a second I thought he was going to gut me, **_

"Wait a bit more dad and he will be happy to try that." Luke mumbled bitterly while his sister leaned against his shoulder, she knew how hard it was on her brother to be named after a hero who had done so much terrible things before sacrificing himself for them all.

_**but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes."**_

_**"The wing-footed messenger guy."**_

Apollo snorted at this in amusement, acting much calmer then a few minutes ago. "That's a new way to describe him." he said in amusement.

_**"That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors."**_

His brothers and some of the others frowned at this.

"That isn't nice to say about dad." Travis said having a strange feeling in his stomach, but he tried to ignore it.

_**I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind.**_

"Oh, he clearly had dad and you are right he was thinking more along the lines of calling you a pawn." Luke said with a bitter grin on his lips which made everyone nervous, this was also the time around which Athena and Hermes returned, the former looking pleased while the later had again a bruise on his face which looked suspiciously like the print of a book.

After sitting down took Apollo care about his brother's new face decoration while Jason continued.

_**"You ever meet your dad?" I asked.**_

_**"Once."**_

_**I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar.**_

At this Hermes immediately went pale and leaned forth in his throne, his eyes wide.

"I…I didn't…" he didn't want to imagine that he hurt one of his children.

"No granddad, you had noting to do with it." Misty said before anyone of the Greek demigods could say something as she walked up to her grandfather's throne and sat down in his lap. "Can I stay here a bit?" she asked in an innocent voice while pulling the puppy eyes trick on her grandfather, she didn't like doing this, but she wanted to stay close to him knowing that he won't like the things happening in the first five books happening to his children both old and new.

"Uh…su…sure Misty…" Hermes replied blushing while his granddaughter beamed at him and leaned back against his chest while he carefully placed his arms around her to keep her steady. From the corner of his eyes had he the freaky thought that Hera was smiling at them, but he shook of the idea that his stepmother would ever smile at him.

_**Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Percy. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other."**_

"This kind of sounds better when Uncle Percy is saying these words." Henry said while tipping his head to the side.

_**He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, **_

Luke was again mumbling something under his breath what no one could understand.

_**because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day.**_

"And he will be the one doing the worst for you in a few days." Luke growled which made everyone raise they eyebrows at him while trying to ignore the uncomfortable feeling in the back of they minds.

_**I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth ... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?"**_

_**Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies."**_

"No offense Lord Apollo, but most people hate them." Annabeth said carefully as she remembered that her adopted older sister needed to die because of a prophecy.

"No one taken, sometimes I also hate them, it is hard seeing the bad things that will happen to others and knowing that you can't do anything against them." Apollo admitted as he remembered the picture he saw about his sister which made him hold back a shudder, he hated being able to see, but not prevent.

"Please continue young hero." Hestia said softly to Jason who nodded in understanding.

_**"What do you mean?"**_

_**His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, **_

"See, you had no fault in his scar." Misty told her grandfather who nodded to her with a small smile on his lips, but also glad that at least his son made it out of there alive.

Meanwhile Artemis's eyes flashed with anger at the mention of her Lieutenant's old home while Hercules glumped when she glared at him with pure venom in her eyes.

"Jason, read." he whispered to his friend who nodded with a shudder.

_**Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much**_

Annabeth blushed at this while Chiron only shook his head fondly; she had acted then so much like any normal young girl and not a demigod who all need to grow up to fast so that they can survive.

_**he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until...somebody special came to the camp."**_

"Oh, he certainly was special." Silena said grinning at the blushing girl.

"Chiron, could you tell us the prophecy now?" Annabeth asked curiously to divert the attention.

"I think I can it said…" but before he could tell the prophecy Enysswe took out her scroll again which was glowing faintly and unrolled it.

"What is it En?" Henry asked his cousin.

"It reads; _"Wisdom's daughter must still wait to know what the Oracle of Delphi had foretold for her."_ Enysswe finished glancing at Luke and Sally who tired not to shudder that the fates had used the exact words to address they mother like the staring line of the prophecy Ella had said _'Wisdom's daughter walks alone…'_

"I'm sorry my dear, it seems as if the Fates wish to keep the Oracle's words from you for a little wile longer." Chiron said as he glanced at the Fates Assistant who nodded before putting the scroll away slightly wondering why it was currently having its original form and not the black IPAD with silver stars sparkling on it, but it might be because IPADs were still not discovered in this time.

"Jason continue." Henry said to the man who nodded after snapping out of his small daze.

_**"Somebody special?"**_

_**"Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for.**_

And Annabeth was back to blushing again.

_**Now, come on, it's dinnertime."**_

_**The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Somehow, I knew it was a conch shell, even though I'd never heard one before.**_

_**Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!"**_

_**The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down.**_

"My cabin?" Artemis asked curiously at which the campers nodded.

_**We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean **__**straight **__**out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill.**_

_**In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads.**_

The Roman demigods frowned at this a little listening to this sounded the Greek camp not only more relaxed then theirs, but also more closer to the nature all they had were wind spirits, beggars fauns and Lares.

_**At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. **_

"That sounds really pretty." Gwen said in a dreamy tone as she imagined the scene how it must look by night time when all the stars are alight.

_**Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off.**_

_**I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys**_

"We are not plump!" yelled both Castor and Pollux indignantly while outside had Ariadne a little frown on her face when hearing this, but then her face suddenly relaxed when a voice inside her mind whispered something to her much to the confusion of her friend who was sitting beside her.

"Well, compared to Dakota who is your brother you kind of are." Connor said while aforementioned boy felt a bit jealous that his brothers could each day have they meals sitting with they dad, he had enjoyed lunch with is father and wouldn't mind doing that more often.

"Is that so Stoll." Castor said as Connor let out a yelp when the brother's effulged him into wine plants and made him hand upside down.

"Now if he would be blonde and hanging like this from a cliff I would be having a serious feeling of déjà vu." Dionysus said with pride in his voice.

"I know what you mean." Artemis said in agreement as she smirked at her blushing brother.

"Could you two please set him down again?" Hermes asked his nephews.

"After the next chapter." Pollux replied smirking so Jason decided to continue.

_**who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur.**_

"Just give me a call and I will have that fixed." Hephaestus told Chiron as he looked up from his work.

"I will do that Lord Hephaestus." the centaur replied.

_**Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair.**_

"So in the future are blondes Athena's taste." Poseidon mused while turning a swarm of angry owls which were heading his way into flying fish without looking as Fredric blushed much to his wife's displeasure.

"Poseidon, could you please get rid of the fish?" Zeus asked his brother while his family snickered as one of the flying fish got caught in his beard.

"Of course baby brother." Poseidon replied cheekily while snapping his fingers and making the fish disappear.

"Don't call me 'baby brother'." Zeus growled as others continued to sicker.

_**Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends.**_

"Siblings." this time it was Ace who corrected.

_**Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!"**_

_**Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!"**_

_**Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course."**_

"That sounds great." Trickster said as some of his friends nodded.

"Yes, I could drink so much Kool-Aid." Dakota said dreamily while his friends shuddered deciding that self filling glasses which gave you any type of drink which was non-alcoholic were maybe not such a good installation to they camp.

_**said, "Cherry Coke."**_

_**The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid.**_

_**Then I had an idea. "**__**Blue **__**Cherry Coke."**_

_**The soda turned a violent shade of cobalt.**_

Yes, they will definitely not get those type of glasses for Camp Jupiter, for they own safety.

_**I took a cautious sip. Perfect.**_

_**I drank a toast to my mother.**_

"He is really loyal to his mother, I appreciate such people." Hera said at which Hades looked over smirking at his now blushing nephew who had also proven a fierce loyalty to his mother.

_**he's not gone, I told myself. Not permanently, anyway. She's in the Underworld. And if that's a real place, then someday...**_

At this all who have been to the Underworld or lived there as well as Poseidon and his sons groaned.

_**"Here you go, Percy," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket.**_

_**I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion.**_

_**I wondered if they were going for dessert or something.**_

The Romans were agian looking curiously at the book.

_**"Come on," Luke told me.**_

_**As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest straw berry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll.**_

_**Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell."**_

The Romans started blinking.

"You like the smell of burnt food?" Jay asked his father.

"Yes son we do, I think you will soon understand and also burnt sacrifices to us are an old tradition which is good that our children still remember." Zeus said to his son.

"It is a form of showing respect to us." Hera said while Reyna took out her list and scribbled _'food sacrifices to the Gods by every meal' _on it.

"It is kind of interesting to see them getting along and trying to learn from each other something other then how many one side can kill in the duration of a hour." Chiron whispered into Lupa's ear.

"I can only agree with you on that one, I may be harsh with them, but that doesn't mean that I like seeing my pups hurt or dead." she whispered back to him at which Chiron nodded, he hated losing even one of the children they were all like his own.

_**"You're kidding."**_

_**His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food.**_

"As already pointed out it is a form of respect and we like the smell." Apollo said casually.

_**Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes."**_

_**I was next.**_

_**I wished I knew what god's name to say.**_

_**Finally, I made a silent plea. **__**Whoever you are, tell me. Please.**_

"I'm sure I will son." Poseidon said again no one wanted to point out to a God that they were talking to a book.

_**I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames.**_

_**When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag.**_

_**It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did.**_

The Romans looked stunned at this; they will surely install that tradition in both the camp and hopefully with the help of the Senate also in New Rome.

"Is this why you said to the others that they could freely eat?" Octavian asked suddenly realizing the meaning behind that comment before lunch.

"Yes, we wanted to let them know that they don't need to sacrifice for us as long as they are here in our presence." Athena answered to the now nodding demigods.

_**I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke.**_

_**When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention.**_

_**Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels."**_

At this grinned Ares smugly at Athena while outside his twin sons cheered.

_**A bunch of ugly**_

"He better start dropping that term if he knows what's good for him." Clarisse growled in annoyance, she hated that word.

"I'm not sure when he will drop it, but I think he will." Misty said thoughtfully while still sitting in her grandfather's lap who was slowly getting used to that fact.

_**cheering rose from the Ares table.**_

_**"Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new camper today. Peter Johnson."**_

At this the legacies snorted in amusement.

"That is the name on which Mr. D insists to call dad while he always corrects him." Sally said giggling, those debates between Mr. D and her dad tended to look kind of amusing.

_**Chiron murmured something.**_

**"Er, Percy Jackson," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on."**

**Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. **

Apollo grinned at this proudly.

"Well that is understandable seeing that no one else would start it out of they free will, it kind of only happened once that we needed to pull straws about who should start it." Travis said while Lee, Michael and Will frowned while Lee started rubbing his right leg, Michael his stomach and will his left arm.

"What happened?" Apollo asked when noticing his children's expressions.

"The whole cabin was in the infirmary after getting pulverized by the Ares cabin in Capture the Flag." Lee replied flinching at the memory, they had all a good deal of broken bones after that game. "It was one of the rare times when the Athena cabin had allied themselves with them as well with the Hephaestus cabin so we were in a pretty bad situation against that team." he finished while they dad paled.

"They went down like flies." Clarisse said as she remembered that game.

"Good girl." Ares said approvingly while his brother glowered at him.

_**We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I felt that I was home.**_

"Because for most us is it home." Annabeth said softly while her father flinched again.

_**Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on my borrowed sleeping bag.**_

_**My fingers curled around the Minotaur's horn. I thought about my mom, but I had good thoughts: her smile, the bedtime stories she would read me when I was a kid, the way she would tell me not to let the bedbugs bite.**_

_**When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly.**_

_**That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood.**_

_**I wish I'd known how briefly I would get to enjoy my new home.**_

"I don't like the foreshadowing of the last line." Orion said while the others nodded in agreement.

"This was the end of the chapter, your turn Bellerophon." Jason said as he passed the book over to the left.

_To be continued…_


	9. For a father's sin the sons shall pay

A/N: ok this one will take out the longest prompt I have written on my list seeing that it has twelve sub-points to it also I would like to point out two things the lullaby in this chapter is the third I have ever written in my life so sorry if it is not the best. Another point would be a certain person mentioned in this chapter who was pretty prominent about his cruel research during WWII. I only had time to read through the _**CrimeLibrary**_ feature about him because getting the books with more details would take some time and to finish reading them so sorry again if I should get some small facts too twisted and make him OOC like another prominent figure of that time…

Warning: do I need to put this out seeing what stands above?

P.S.: sorry that I didn't manage to finish this yesterday, but I started feeling tired and that combined with a migraine is never good and then next morning I was kind of busy with going out into the Plaza. Don't blame me, I'm making great progress with this fic, but it was the first time that they did the Chocolate Festival also here and do I need to elaborate? Chocolate of all sorts, two great Hungarian bands as entertainment and also an attempt to make a record in country chocolate cookies eating? Sorry, but that was to good to let pass out even for me…

* * *

IX. For a father's sin the sons shall pay

Bellerophon accepted the book and opened it at the right chapter, he was still not sure as to what to make out of his little brother who wasn't even born jet, but seeing how much Theseus and Orion seemed to be attached to him already he figured that he was an ok kid. An ok, but still pretty strange kid even for they standards.

"The next chapter is called _**We Capture a Flag**_" he read at which the Greek demigods cheered while the Romans looked curious, well this should be interesting seeing that after his knowledge getting an army's flag had a deciding meaning in a fight.

"We also play that game in school." Matthew called proudly at which the demigods turned to him and Bobby nodded beside his brother.

"Those capture the flag games are for mortals, ours is much better." Clarisse replied with a small sneer while she remembered that baby game they played in school, she always was sent to the principal for beating up those who approached whenever she was put to guard duty. Really, what did they think guard duty meant that she will let them pass?

"It was already mentioned the last chapter, the mortal version never ends in broken bones." Chris added in knowingly as the three sons of Apollo rubbed they past wounds again.

"I got once a bruise on my arm." Matthew said back, he wanted to prove to his big sister that they are as good as those people she was sitting with, but all he got were a few eyerolles and the older children turned back. He and Bobby would need a new plan to use, the getting her mommy to help then would be no good, because the lady with they sister's eyes didn't look happy when she looked at they dad.

"Broken bones hurt more." Perses called over to the other small boy as he remembered how he had once snuck into the stalls and with great difficulties climbed on the back of his dad's horse and fell down breaking his arm. He got scolded for that and his arm was in a shin for a long time.

"Just continue son." Poseidon told Bellerophon who nodded to his father and continued before an argument could start.

_**The next few days I settled into a routine that felt almost normal, if you don't count the fact that I was getting lessons from satyrs, nymphs, and a centaur.**_

"You are not only teached by Chiron?" Trickster asked stunned, sure the spirits in camp gave occasionally tips and Lupa does training mostly in the Wolf House, but nothing other they train with they cohorts.

"Yes, so we have all the same training in different levels and the gaps in one's skills are not that large." Annabeth explained to they other cousins who nodded in understanding.

_**Each morning I took Ancient Greek from Annabeth, **_

Said girl blushed at this while her friends snickered.

_**and we talked about the gods and goddesses in the present tense, which was kind of weird. I discovered Annabeth was right about my dyslexia: Ancient Greek wasn't that hard for me to read. At least, no harder than English. After a couple of mornings, I could stumble through a few lines of Homer without too much headache.**_

"Huh, what did he write?" Jason asked who had a few encounters with him and they tended to talk pretty much with each other about philosophy, poetry and his adventures. He was an amusing man.

"In the future will he have two pretty famous works called the Iliad and Odyssey which is basically the writing down of the Trojan War and Odysseus's adventures in words. The mortals think that they are only fiction and made up, but enjoy them greatly." Lee supplied at which those who were in that war exchanged wide eyed glances while trying to not show that they felt kind of embarrassed about this tibit of information, mostly the gods.

_**The rest of the day, I'd rotate through outdoor activities, looking for something I was good at. Chiron tried to teach me archery,**_

At this Bellerophon stopped himself in reading and looked up at the legacies with Orion, curiosity in they eyes.

"Is he…", but before he could continue all nine shook they heads with Enysswe even grimacing slightly.

"Sorry, he is the same walking menace like your other siblings and father with a bow and arrows, he only once was good at it after a prayer to both my grandfather and grandaunt and they were more then eager to aide him by that shoot." Enysswe said when spotting the curious gazes of the two mentioned gods while the others shuddered as they remembered how bad Poseidon was with a bow. "The fourth book will have that scene in it." she told them.

_**but we found out pretty quick I wasn't any good with a bow and arrow.**_

* * *

"It was already a great wonder that his father had two children who can shoot, so I doubt that the boy is any different from the others." Caerus said shaking his head, he did his best to give at least two of the Sea Gods boys the opportunity to be good in the art of archery of course it helped that his lovely girlfriend was pretty happy that he did that for his two cousins and showed it in the most favourable of ways.

"Don't remind me on it." called Pothos from not far where the other was sitting, his brother Himeros nodding furiously beside him as both shuddered. "Nothing then a butchered shoot with an arrow which nearly castrates people to kill all sexual desires for another person" he said. That had been back then the last time they had tried to ask Triton if he would mind spending some quality time with them in the shades of they mother's private garden as he visited with his father while Phobos looked over at Deimos with a pained expression on his face.

"Why are we again siblings with those two?" he asked his twin in a strained voice as he tried not to remember his last encounter with those two in the baths, let's say it ended with a lot of screaming, curses, splashing water and him never going to the baths without looking as if going to war.

"Our father has problems not getting it on with our mother" his brother replied unsurely before shuddering, in his option had both he and his twin gotten the better deal with coming more after they father Ares then they mother Aphrodite. He shuddered at the memory of her trying to make them wear pink gowns because they would look so cute in them.

"They are a danger with those tings for the well-being of everyone in a circle of two whole miles." Eupraxia said ignoring the comment about 'sexual desire', those two could only think about that and how to get others to bed them, but she was always overthrown by work whenever one of Lord Poseidon's offspring's who was not the currently reading one or Orion. Those were the only times beside wars that she hated being the personification of well-being.

_**He didn't complain, even when he had to desnag a stray arrow out of his tail.**_

All who sat outside flinched in sympathy for Chiron.

"And we stand correct." Eriene said before adding in a pleading tone "For the love of peace, I pray that you will never use a bow again when people who could be harmed are anywhere where you are." this made the Litae sisters raise they eyebrows.

"You know that you currently prayed on your name?" asked one of them at which Eriene looked to her side.

"Your point?" she asked them while everyone else turned back to the palace to listen to the books while the goddesses argued between themselves.

* * *

"Could I ask where exactly I was standing?" Chiron asked carefully after a few seconds of complet silence, well as much silence there can be when a good number of people are trying to keep themselves away from sniggering out of respect.

"Uhm…somewhat farther away from him, partly behind by a large tree and a shield big enough for two of you." Sally said sheepishly at which everyone failed to keep they laugh in except a shocked Chiron.

"He is just as terrible like the rest of his siblings with the exception of two." said Hera while shaking her head as she involuntarily recalled the time they were almost all seriously hurt when in the time they were still growing up in they father's stomach - she shuddered at that – her younger brother managed to make a bow and shoot a makeshift arrow. Luckily had Hades managed to somehow stop it, she didn't know how, because Hestia was shielding both her and Poseidon to keep them safe. The only good thing that experience brought, beside the knowledge to flee whenever her brother held a bow, was that they father experienced some mayor stomach pains on that day which she later found out everyone misunderstood as sympathy pains for his wife who was at that time pregnant with Demeter.

After the laughing died down and Chiron mumbled about needing to constantly wear full body armour whenever he will need to take a new hero to the archery fields and it is not clear that they belong to Apollo much to Lupa's amusement.

_**Foot racing? No good either. The wood-nymph instructors left me in the dust.**_

"They always do." Travis said solemnly.

_**They told me not to worry about it. They'd had centuries of practice running away from lovesick gods.**_

There were some snickers at the sight of said squirming lovesick gods while outside the nymphs laughed hysterically at the expressions they were seeing.

"Not all of them sometimes is it the other way around." Persephone growled as she remembered that annoying little nymph, she needed to learn on the hard way to leave her husband alone.

"Huh?" some asked while Aphrodite started grinning as she noticed the waves of jealousy and protectiveness emitting from the Spring Goddess.

"Why do you think the mint plant exists?" Persephone said sweetly as she leaned against her husband, with a satisfied grin on her lips, who kissed the top of her head remembering what happened after she had turned the naïve nymph into a plant.

"Erm…" was the demigods reply while Henry nodded.

"Told you that she had a better and less dangerous method into what to change people when they offend her." he said while Apollo squirmed in his throne remembering why he had thrown a good deal of his usual seductions plans out of the window. First his uncle didn't even turn around when Aphrodite walked past him or any other attractive divinity and because he didn't want to end up as a daisy flower or Persephone might be in a joking mode a make him a sunflower.

"I will forever have problems thinking about mint the same way again as before." Mitchell whispered to Silena who nodded in agreement. "It is pretty romantic how she diverted any chance to have someone become her rival in love."

"I know right, it is lovely when one is protective about the person they love." Silena replied back to her brother as both let out longing sighs while sending a glance to they sides making a certain son of Hephaestus and Athena tense, they had no clue why they were looking at them while the Goddess of Love beamed, she wasn't this excited for one of her children since Eros fell in love with Psyche.

_**But still, it was a little humiliating to be slower than a tree.**_

"We soo know how you feel." groaned all the Greek demigods and the legacies while the Romans looked at them with sympathy.

_**And wrestling? Forget it. Every time I got on the mat, Clarisse would pulverize me.**_

Ares nodded proudly at this after he got from Ace a quick mental message that nowadays people wrestle in clothes when he went rigid after hearing who the brat's wrestling partner was.

_**"There's more where that came from, punk," she'd mumble in my ear.**_

_**The only thing I really excelled at was canoeing, and that wasn't the kind of heroic skill people expected to see from the kid who had beaten the Minotaur.**_

"True, but seeing how I'm not the best at it I think that at least he had fun." Katie said as she remembered how scared she always felt when canoeing, even if the naiad instructors were constantly near to help if something should happen, she just wasn't confident enough.

"I can try helping you out; I'm not bad at it." Travis offered to her silently so that the others don't hear him which made Katie look at him suspiciously, but after only seeing sincerity in his eyes she nodded, a small blush on her cheeks.

"Thank you." she whispered back, maybe she really could fall for him if he doesn't act childish at every given time.

"You are welcome." Travis answered back with a small blush of his own, he didn't know from where that offer had come from, but catching his son's eyes and getting from him a thumb up, he decided that he didn't care.

_**I knew the senior campers and counselors were watching me, trying to decide who my dad was, but they weren't having an easy time of it.**_

"I fear that this will be a long day spent with standing around and headaches." Lee said as he looked over at the other five counsellors who nodded in agreement.

"Hope you had a bag of aspirin with you on that day for us all Lee." Beckendorf told the blonde who nodded that he probably had and if not would he with certainty run back to the infirmary to get some.

_**I wasn't as strong as the Ares kids,**_

"No one is stronger then my kids in a physical fight." Ares boosted while the others rolled they eyes at him.

_**or as good at archery as the Apollo kids.**_

"After hearing about that one shot we would be highly shocked if you would be in denial about that." Felix said.

_**I didn't have Hephaestus's skill with metalwork**_

"Not many have." Jake said which made his father smile proudly at his kids; he was really happy that his children shared his interest, from the corner of his eyes he caught his mother's gaze and gave her a small smile which she returned wholeheartedly.

Feeling the exchange looked Aphrodite in confusion between her husband and mother-in-law, she had no clue what was happening, but she felt kind of glad for whatever had started this, all types of love were precious and should be cherished as much as possible. She figured that these books were the cause for the changes and was happy about it, she may be sometimes vein and act naïve, but the truth was that she only had a different type of view about the world around her like most others.

_**or-gods forbid-Dionysus's way with vine plants.**_

"You would have been claimed the minute you stepped through the boarders if you would have been our brother." Pollux said while the others nodded, the twins were claimed in the blink of an eye by Mr. D and he always remembered they names.

_**Luke told me I might be a child of Hermes, a kind of jack-of-all-trades, master of none.**_

Travis, Connor, Chris, Trickster and Odysseus frowned at this as Annabeth tried to figure out why Luke had said this like that while Misty comforted her granddad who looked slightly hurt. He didn't understand why it was a bad thing to be a patron of those who don't know where they path will lead them. Outside were his other children also not looking pleased with they little brother.

_**But I got the feeling he was just trying to make me feel better. He really didn't know what to make of me either. Despite all that, I liked camp. I got used to the morning fog over the beach, the smell of hot strawberry fields in the afternoon, even the weird noises of monsters in the woods at night.**_

The Greek demigods nodded at this, they all loved it there while they parents looked happy about this, they might be not the best parents in the world, but they still wanted they kids safe and cared for.

_**I would eat dinner with cabin eleven, scrape part of my meal into the fire, and try to feel some connection to my real dad. Nothing came.**_

"What is keeping me?" Poseidon demanded from the legacies.

"You see, the case was a bit complicated for you." was the only reply he got which made the god frown, but didn't ask further.

_**Just that warm feeling I'd always had like the memory of his smile. I tried not to think too much about my mom, but I kept wondering: if gods and monsters were real, if all this magical stuff was possible, surely there was some way to save her, to bring her back . . .**_

Cue groans from most occupants of the throne room and outskirts of the place.

_**I started to understand Luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, Hermes.**_

"Don't you dare think like that worm." Luke snapped at his father's past self making the others stare at him in shock as Hermes whimpered which in turn made Misty hug him as Apollo patted his hand.

_**So okay, maybe gods had important things to do. But couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder, or something? Dionysus could make Diet Coke appear out of thin air. Why couldn't my dad, whoever he was, make a phone appear?**_

All gods turned to Zeus who was starting to squirm in his seat by all the glares he was receiving, maybe he should ad some exceptions to that particular law if he doesn't want his family to follow the tradition of throne sizing. He bit back a shudder at that what would be his fate, the track record what his father did with they grandfather and what he did to him were not all to pleasant options.

_**Thursday afternoon, three days after I'd arrived at Camp Half-Blood, I had my first sword-fighting lesson. Everybody from cabin eleven gathered in the big circular arena, where Luke would be our instructor.**_

_**We started with basic stabbing and slashing, using some straw-stuffed dummies in Greek armor. I guess I did okay. At least, I understood what I was supposed to do and my reflexes were good.**_

"He is the best with a sword." Sally said proudly while her brother was stuck between looking proud or growl in anger making those from the past look at him worriedly, they still didn't fully understand why he was acting like this.

_**The problem was,**__**I couldn't find a blade that felt right in my hands. Either they were too heavy, or too light, or too long, Luke tried his best to fix me up, but he agreed that none of the practice blades seemed to work for me.**_

"But he had no problem with that sword in the museum." Malcolm pointed out.

"Because that is the only sword which is good for him." Henry said while not looking at either Artemis or Hercules, he was not sure how they would react to the familiar weapon.

_**We moved on to dueling in pairs. Luke announced he would be my partner, since this was my first time.**_

_**"Good luck," one of the campers told me. "Luke's the best swordsman in the last three hundred years."**_

"Not for long and dad, that was you who had said that." Misty called over to her blushing father while the others were still looking stunned that Percy will be better then Luke.

_**"Maybe he'll go easy on me," I said.**_

_**The camper snorted.**_

Luke did the same. "Not a chance dad, if anything he will only go much harder on you." he said with a bitter smile on his lips.

"Annabeth, are you sure that he doesn't need to see a specialist?" Jake whispered to her carefully.

"I don't even know his father yet and we might know soon enough what it wrong." Annabeth replied back, but on the inside was she dreading the answer, she had already lost Thalia, she couldn't loose Luke to whatever the problem was also.

_**Luke showed me thrusts and parries and shield blocks the hard way. With every swipe, I got a little more battered and bruised. "Keep your guard up, Percy," he's say, then whap me in the ribs with the flat of his blade. "No, not that far up!" **__**Whap! "**__**Lunge!" **__**Whap! **__**"Now, back!" **__**Whap!**_

"Love the added sound effects." Jay said as he felt the tense atmosphere around them.

_**By the time he called a break, I was soaked in sweat. Everybody swarmed the drinks cooler. Luke poured ice water on his head, which looked like such a good idea. I did the same.**_

Poseidon and his kids started grinning at while the legacies exchanged suspicious glances, it seemed that he had already known to whom they uncle/dad belonged.

_**Instantly, I felt better. Strength surged back into my arms. The sword didn't feel so awkward.**_

"I see, the water enchants his strength." Athena said in a stunned tone while the demigods who were not children of the sea exchanged slightly envious glances, it would in some cases come in handy to have such skills.

_**"Okay, everybody circle up!" Luke ordered. "If Percy doesn't mind, I want to give you a little demo."**_

_**Great, I thought. Let's all watch Percy get pounded.**_

There were some snickers at this.

_**The Hermes guys gathered around. They were suppressing smiles. I figured they'd been in my shoes before and couldn't wait to see how Luke used me for a punching bag. He told everybody he was going to demonstrate a disarming technique: how to twist the enemy's blade with the flat of your own sword so that he had no choice but to drop his weapon.**_

_**"This is difficult," he stressed. "I've had it used against me. No laughing at Percy, no. Most swordsmen have to work years to master this technique."**_

"It is a good technique." both Athena and Ares said at the same time while the Romans looked curious, they didn't remember having such a technique so naturally they were intrigued.

"It is really not easy, it took me two weeks to learn, but that I prefer the spear better in battle and use a sword only on some occasions would be a clue why it took so long." Clarisse said at which her father nodded proudly.

"I prefer fighting with a knife." Annabeth told her mother while Malcolm looked up.

"I like also knives better or bows." he added in at which they mother nodded, the others didn't comment because they either haven't learned about this technique till now or it took them a pretty long time to learn if they used swords.

_**He demonstrated the move on me in slow motion. Sure enough, the word clattered out of my hand.**_

_**"Now in real time," he said, after I'd retrieved my weapon. "We keep sparring until one of us pulls it off. Ready, Percy?"**_

_**I nodded, and Luke came after me. Somehow, I kept him from getting a shot at the hilt of my sword. My senses opened up. I saw his attacks coming. I countered. I stepped forward and tried a thrust of my own. Luke deflected it easily, but I saw a change in his face. His eyes narrowed, and he started to press me with more force.**_

Everyone was staring intently at the book as they listened to the fight while the legacies nodded approvingly that they uncle/dad had made it clear that he isn't one who can be easily made into a pawn no matter his age.

_**The sword grew heavy in my hand. The balance wasn't right. I knew it was only a matter of seconds before Luke took me down, so I figured, What the heck?**_

_**I tried the disarming maneuver.**_

Some of the gods looked close to fall out of they thrones as they leaned even more forth in them.

_**My blade hit the base of Luke's and I twisted, putting my whole weight into a downward thrust.**_

_**Clang.**_

_**Luke's sword rattled against the stones. The tip of my blade was an inch from his undefended chest.**_

The legacies and Roman demigods cheered with Poseidon and his family while the other demigods stared blinking at the heard happenings meanwhile the gods got up from the ground and sat back on they thrones with as much dignity as they could muster. Hermes also gave his granddaughter and apologetic grin as she glared at him with a look which reminded him on her grandmother Hecate which on the other hand made him blush.

"I would like to know what he could do with a balanced sword." Jay asked while looking over at his fellow Romans who were all asking themselves the same.

"A great damage to his enemies." was the reply from the nine legacies.

_**The other campers were silent.**_

_**I lowered my sword. "Um, sorry."**_

"Why is he apologizing?" Odysseus asked in a stunned tone.

"That is Uncle Percy for you." Misty replied nonchalantly.

_**For a moment, Luke was too stunned to speak.**_

"Not something one sees every day." Chris whispered to his brothers who nodded in agreement.

_**"Sorry?" His scarred face broke into a grin. "By the gods, Percy, why are you sorry? Show me that again!"**_

_**I didn't want to. The short burst of manic energy had completely abandoned me. But Luke insisted.**_

_**This time, there was no contest. The moment our swords connected, Luke hit my hilt and sent my weapon skidding across the floor.**_

_**After a long pause, somebody in he audience said, "Beginner's luck?"**_

The legacies snorted at this.

_**Luke wiped the sweat off his brow. He appraised at me with an entirely new interest. "Maybe." he said. "But I wonder what Percy could do with a balanced sword. . . "**_

"You will know pretty soon." Luke said smirking evilly.

"Are we sure that he is your grandson Poseidon and not Hades's?" Zeus whispered to his older brother.

"I'm sure about that, but I should ask his sister later on how close exactly they father is with Hades's children." Poseidon whispered back still wondering what was wrong with his grandson.

_**Friday afternoon, I was sitting with Grover at the lake, resting from a near-death experience on the climbing wall. Grover had scampered to the top like a mountain goat,**_

Again the Romans were gapping in shock, the fauns take part in the training also!? This was it, after they get back will the faun case be the first one with which they will start from they list!

_**but the lava had almost gotten me. My shirt had smoking holes in it. The hairs had singed off my forearms.**_

All those who knew how that feels flinched in sympathy.

_**We sat on the pier, watching the naiads do underwater basket-weaving, until I got up the nerve to ask Grover how his conversation had gone with Mr. D.**_

_**His face turned a sickly shade of yellow.**_

_**"Fine," he said. "Just great."**_

_**"So your career's still on track?"**_

_**He glanced at me nervously. "Chiron t-told you I want a searcher's license?"**_

_**"Well . . . no." I had no idea what a searcher's license was but it didn't seem like the right time to ask.**_

_**"He just said you had big plans, you know . . . and that you needed credit for completing a keeper's assignment. So did you get it?"**_

_**Grover looked down at the naiads. "Mr. D suspended judgment. He said I hadn't failed or succeeded with you yet,**_

At this Annabeth beamed at Mr. D for doing this for Grover while Castor leaned over to her.

"See, our dad can be nice to others." he told Annabeth who was still resisting the urge to walk over to the god and give him a hug.

_**so our fates were still tied together. If you got a quest and I went along to protect you, and we both came back alive, then maybe he'd consider the job complete."**_

_**My spirits lifted. "Well, that's not so bad, right?"**_

_**"Blaa-ha-ha! He might as well have transferred me to stable-cleaning duty. The chances of you getting a quest . . . and even if you did, why would you want me along?"**_

"That poor satyr really needs more self-esteem." Hestia said kindly she understood where Dionysus was coming from, that little satyr also started to remind her about how her nephew Pan had been when he was still little, constantly hiding behind his father or his cousin when frightened.

"Don't worry grandaunt Hestia, he will." Henry told her at which she smiled happily, that was good to hear.

_**"Of course I'd want you along!"**_

_**Grover stared glumly into the water. "Basket-weaving . . . Must be nice to have a useful skill."**_

_**I tried to reassure him that he had lots of talents, but that just made him look more miserable. We talked about canoeing and swordplay for a while, then debated the pros and cons of the different gods. Finally, I asked him about the four empty cabins.**_

_**"Number eight, the silver one, belongs to Artemis," he said. "She voiced to be a maiden forever. So of course, no kids. The cabin is, you know, honorary. If she didn't have one, she'd be mad."**_

"It is also the place where the Hunters sleep when they are near the camp." Will added in trying not to remember that disaster when some cabins burned down as the Aphrodite cabin and the Hunters clashed with each other, at the moment were they two Aphrodite kids busy with trying not to growl as they remembered the same.

"That is good that they will have a place to stay." Artemis said in approval not noticing the demigods expressions.

_**"Yeah, okay. But the other three, the ones at the end. Are those the Big Three?"**_

_**Grover tensed. We were getting close to a touchy subject "No. One of them, number two, is Hera's." he said.**_

_"__**That's another honorary thing. She's the goddess of marriage, so of course she wouldn't go around having affairs with mortals.**_

Hera nodded in agreement, now when her husband would also manage to take his vow seriously, but alas that was too much to hope for.

_**That's her husband's job.**_

And this was the exact minute that beside a glaring Zeus everyone who heard the sentence broke out into hysterical laughter, the children of said husband being the loudest of them all, while in the mortal world were the people starring stunned at the sudden blooming of everything around them, on the bright rainbow on the crystal blue sky or why they all had suddenly the urge no matter they situation to laugh.

It took nearly a whole hour till everyone managed to calm themselves down enough so that Bellerophon could start reading again.

"That satyr got you right there." Apollo told his father cheekily, his sky blue eyes still dancing with mirth.

_**When we say the Big Three, we mean the three powerful bothers, the sons of Kronos."**_

Said brothers nodded they heads at this.

_**"Zeus, Poseidon, Hades."**_

_**"Right, You know, After the great battle with the Titans, they took over the world from their dad and drew lots to decide who got what."**_

"Which as we now know was rigged." Enysswe hissed to her cousin who nodded darkly, luckily no one other heard them.

_**"Zeus got the sky," I remembered. "Poseidon the sea, Hades the Underworld."**_

_**"Uh-huh."**_

_**"But Hades doesn't have a cabin here."**_

"Thanks Uncle Percy." Enysswe and Henry said at the same time.

"At least will I have one later on." Hades said feeling glad about that, not for himself, but for his son.

_**"No. He doesn't have a throne on Olympus either.**_

The gods shifted uneasily at this while outside Hades's three children who were called up there by the Keres scowled, they father was as good as any of his siblings.

_**He sort of does his own thing down in the Underworld.**_

"More like, I'm in exile except for one day in winter." Hades said in a dark tone while his wife glared at her father, Apollo was fighting the urge to do the same while Hestia looked disappointed at her youngest brother who felt mostly by her gaze the most unnerved and guilty.

_**If he did have a cabin here . . ." Grover shuddered. "Well, it would be pleasant. Let's leave it at that."**_

"And exactly what do you mean by that Uncle Grover?" Enysswe and Henry asked sweetly making they present parent look over at the other nervously before nodding and walking over to they future children and taking they hands into their own while outside were some of the others busy calming down the three siblings.

_**"But Zeus and Poseidon-they both had, like, a bazillion kids in the myths. Why are their cabins empty?"**_

"We would also like to know." said the mentioned two brothers at the same time before flinching and looking over at they wives who only hit them over the heads, they could at least have done this in a subtle way like looking more interested.

At the same time were Chiron and the Greek demigods looking nervously at each other, most of the kids heard small snippets about why that was and Annabeth knew more, but not the exact full story.

_**Grover shifted his hooves uncomfortably. "About sixty years ago, after World War II, the Big Three agreed they wouldn't sire any more heroes. Their children were just too powerful. They were affecting the course of human events too much, causing too much carnage.**_

All present Three Big children shifted uncomfortably at this while the others looked at them.

_**World War II,**_

"I hope that they don't mean that name literally." Artemis said while Ares looked excited.

"Unfortunately yes, it was the second war in which nearly all nations of the world have stood opposite each other as two sides." Annabeth said sadly at which most of the gods looked horrified, this sounded worse then the Trojan War and that was saying something.

_**you know, that was basically a fight between the sons of Zeus and Poseidon on one side, and the sons of Hades on the other.**_

A new flinch from the gods as they looked over at the children from the future.

"Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, a son of Zeus and Winton Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom a son of Poseidon were both leaders of the Allied Powers who stood against the Axis Powers, one of they leaders being Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany and a son of Hades." Annabeth said carefully while most of the gods flinched as did the demigods.

"Uncle Adolf" a good deal of demigods flinched at Enysswe's use of words that she would call that monster her uncle even though he was a child of one of her grandfathers "was highly displeased with the other gods and kind of also the fact that grandfather didn't do anything to punish them." Enysswe said with a bitter smile, they fatal flaw was a dangerous inheritance and it was another prof about why her grandfather had only so few demigod children unlike the others. "He didn't understand why he let himself be exiled and didn't overthrow those who have wronged him to punish them." the elder gods looked again uncomfortable; her words were hitting to close to home for they liking. "So he decided to do something himself, why do you think that the symbol of his personal, most deadly bodyguards was the symbol of his father? He also decided to mock the gods who had wronged his father doing so as to get him also to finally act."

"What do you mean?" Malcolm asked while exchanging glances with his sister, racking they brains to remember everything Hitler had done, then gasped.

"Hitler often used both the eagle and lightning as propaganda symbols for his beliefs and his regain." Annabeth said at which many eyes widened as they also remembered.

"Those are my symbols!" Zeus yelled, but held himself back from glaring at his oldest brother.

"And you are the King of Gods father; he was mocking you as a ruler." Jay said, this would explain why he read somewhere that Roosevelt really hated Hitler, now he understood his half-brother. Gods never use the symbols of the other and neither do they demigod children, that was a serious offence.

"Uhoh…would this mean that…those were also made to mock the gods…" Frank asked suddenly, his face ashen as he looked at his son and niece.

"The Death Camps?" Henry asked his father with a sad smile. "Yes, they were made as a symbol of Camp Half-Blood, but also for something other as we have found out." he said sadly, reaching out and taking his cousin's hand into his, he knew how finding that out had been like a stab in the heart to they grandfather and his children.

"I fear asking, but what were they?" Orpheus asked fearfully, not liking how much the rift between the Big Three's children had become, he personally didn't have a problem with Lord Hades.

"They were horrible places, used for the so called purging of German society from the so-called "racially undesirable elements" such as Jews, criminals, homosexuals, and Gypsies. They were brought there by trains a transportation's vehicle used in the future to transport a large number of materials or people, but in these trains were the selected people from all around squeezed in and spent often days standing without food, water, bathrooms or even fresh air." Hestia looked saddened at this. "After arrival they were let outside and separated, one line would be forced to work till they can't anymore or used for cruel experiments while the others were sent to either the gas chamber to suffocate or the crematorium to be burned alive, men, woman old and young, children not even infants were spared." many of the gods looked horrified at this while Hades sunk back into his throne at the thought what his son will do to finally get him to stand up against his family. "Those who lived and were made to work were starved, sicknesses of all types, lice and fleas the hygiene was nonexistent." Annabeth said bitterly while those of the past stared at them with horror filled eyes some even looking green.

"True, they were all made to represent camp, the way they got there should be a symbol of the struggle a demigod experiences to reach the safety of the camp, the selection is that even if you get to camp there is still a chance that you will not survive while the hard labour stands for the training as for the experiments…what do you think would happen if the world figures out that we still exist and manage to capture us?" Enysswe asked, her gaze firmly on her hand which was still tightly held by her mother while Persephone pulled closer to her husband, daring anyone with her glare to say something bad to him, so she was mostly looking at her father.

"Wasn't there a woman who when finding a prisoner's tattoo interesting that she skinned them and made book covers and all such from them?" Jake asked carefully, but immediately regretted it when Aphrodite and her two daughters jumped up from they seats and run to the bathroom while Sue also hurried out with the twins so that they don't hear this, Malcolm was slightly surprised that Mitchell had not run out with his mother and sisters, but he could see that he was more pale then green. After this he would deny it, but he placed his hand on that of the brunette who gave him a thankful smile in return. Fredric stayed behind because he loved history and to know that three of the most prominent figures of that war had been demigods was keeping him in his place, Andromeda only put her hands on Perses's ears, she knew that children can't be shielded forever from the world.

"Uhm…that was actually Megaera in human disguise." Henry said carefully, when faced by the disbelieving looks he decided to elaborate. "Seeing how grandfather has a pretty low number of children, both immortal and demigod tend the three Furies to usually have a favourite one in the case of the demigods seeing how our lives can be pretty fleeting. In that case they tend to stay near them in disguise." he finished to the shocked demigods while Hades even though all the things he heard gave a small smile that the three sisters would try keeping an eye out for his children.

"I take one of them favours your father." Will asked his daughter, he didn't like this talk all too much seeing how he will be marrying a chid of Lord Hades.

"Yes, Alecto." she said when Dr. Chase spoke up suddenly deciding to take part in the conversation.

"Also she had been not one of the worst in the case of the Nazis, beside Hitler himself, "he said carefully not exactly wishing to offend the man's father "had been the leading doctor of the Auschwitz camp Dr. Josef Mengele who had also been called the Angel of Death." when he said that felt Enysswe her mother's grip on her hand tighten, looking up and noting the flash in his eyes was she sure that he knew. Closing her own eyes for a few seconds she leaned against her mother to show that she was there no matter how painful this will be for them all seeing how the others didn't know. "A good looking and charming man with a love for Wagner's opera music, always dressed pristine, who selected who shall live or not, ordered cruel deaths with detachment, but if angered could act in a brutal manner, but that was not why he had been feared by both his victims and even his colleagues." Fredric continued oblivious like the others to the small exchange between mother and daughter. "He was obsessed with one main theme of the genetic of humans, twins." he said at which the two present sets of twins shuddered. "He would send his men around and separated twins and bring them to a special facility part, he made sure that they had enough food, were spared from labour and beatings and even doted on them like a father would, those in that facility were even called 'Mengele's children', but the others fate would have been better for them. He was a twisted man who with time welcomed new victims with waltz music played by a prisoner's orchestra as not far hundreds were burned alive, he brought the term that love and death are quiet similar to a new level. He did many operations without anything that would stop the pain, castration and sterilization, removal of inner organs while the patient was strapped down and fully awake, injecting things into the eyes to see if they colour could be modified. As said most of his cruel tests were about how to control the birth of twins and for that he murdered thousands and in the end even escaped earthly judgement." Fredric told the past gods and heroes in a grave tone as he tried not to remember all the things he had read. "In our time are there some books which have a good account about the Angel of Death who is for most still an enigma and in the eyes of his victims still out there even if it is impossible. One of them is ironically titled '_Children of the Flames: Dr. Josef Mengele & the Untold Story of the Twins of Auschwitz'" _

"Are we actually sure that this person was a mortal and not a monster?" Jay asked suddenly, disgust evident in his voice.

"He was not a mortal." Enysswe spoke up softly from where she sat with her mother.

"So he was a monster then?" Odysseus inquired, but then he saw the girl lover her head while Orpheus's brother who sat close to her spoke up.

"No…" he said in a faint tone as his sky blue eyes which were filled with sadness and worry looked in the direction of his father. "…he was a Child of Apollo, our brother…" Will finished as suddenly the room was filled with a deathly silence while everyone looked at said god and his children who had all horrified expressions on they faces. Will himself had stumbled on this account by accident, it was not clear how his, as hard it was to think, brother had avoided being found by monsters. At that time had he been both to horrified and disgusted that he didn't tell any of his siblings about the find he had made when getting back to camp a month later, he didn't even dare asking his father in fear that he would either be angry or sad.

"I…I need to go for a few minutes…" Apollo said suddenly and flashed out.

"Apollo." Artemis called, her had still in the air when she wanted to grab her brother.

"I think…we should take a pause…" spoke up Hades in a faint, sad tone as he stood up from his throne and made his way to the exit with Persephone, Henry and Enysswe, after telling her mother to go after his father and giving a suggestion where to find him, hurrying after him.

"I agree, we should return here after an hour." Poseidon said in a grave tone as he looked over at his siblings. "Brother, sisters I think we need to talk with one another." he said while the others nodded and flashed out of the throne room

"I will go looking for Apollo." Artemis said as she stood up and run out of the room not even bothering with flashing.

"We should do the same, father may need us." Will said as he stood up, but before he could make a step a hand grabbed his arm, turning around he found himself looking into Lee's eyes.

"How…how did you know?" Lee inquired from his little brother, something told him that beside they father and the other gods no one else had know that the most feared monster of Auschwitz was they own brother.

"We were on a holiday trip, my mom's brother got a job in the museum they had made out of the Auschwitz Camp and there when we were lead through Mengele's chambers I noticed something, there was a journal about his experiments I thought that I saw something so while my uncle was giving a lecture I snuck back to the journal and took a better look. It seems as if the journal had some of the mist on it, and the way it was placed down was also hiding it, but…" Will felt bile in his throat, just like at that time. "There in that journal was an old stile silk bookmark, it was crimson in colour, but at the bottom in clear sight was the symbol of our father, just like on the gloves he always wore. Then some of his quirks which got mentioned by Annabeth's father with him humming opera music or greeting people with waltz music played and even on the photos if you look really closely. All those were too much to be a coincidence." again they were effulged into silence before Octavian stood up.

"I don't know if you want to chat more, but I'm going looking for grandfather." Octavian said at which Will nodded, the blonde didn't know what was wrong with him acting understanding with the Greecus, but it felt like he needed to do this.

"Agreed, we all know that one can't pick relatives." Michael said as both him and Lee stood up with Orpheus finally reaching his younger siblings. Together they hurried out not noticing that Orion had also disappeared from the room.

"We should also be looking for Apollo." Dionysus said, his brother tried consoling him now is it his turn, the other gods nodded.

"You children should stay here with your trainers; tell Aphrodite where we are when she gets back." Athena instructed them before they also disappeared while Misty gave a signal to the others that she had warned her grandmother, not that Hecate knew that the voice was that of her granddaughter, that there is an hour long pause and that they should act natural.

"I should probably have stayed quiet." Fredric said suddenly while all demigods turned to him with looks saying _what-gave-you-that-idea_.

* * *

_**Hades, Persephone and they grandchildren **_

The King of the Underworld had retreated himself to a sunny meadow beside which the tall trees formed a shaded forest. This was his favourite place on Olymphos, well beside the heart his older sister tended to, this was where he liked to come when he wanted to be alone or just think before he was told that he could only return here for one day. Those more often then not useless councils took to much time and he could not sneak out here. His thoughts were a mess since he heard what one of his children had done, he felt as if he would have become a disappointment that he didn't turn against his family just like they had turned against him. Sometimes, that he needed to admit, he really had thoughts about taking revenge, but he never acted upon them, if he did would he disappoint Hestia that he was no better then they father and a hypocrite, he would cause his beloved rose pain, then no matter how often she clashed with her mother she loved her. He could never bring himself to hurt either of them, he was not like they father who destroys whatever angers him or he sees as a threat!

"My Lord?" he heard the soft voice of the woman he had been thinking a few seconds ago, it didn't take long and he saw her running in his direction. The irony of the situation made him almost smile because he liked this place also because this was where he had meet his small niece, now beautiful wife for the first time as she approached him with her crown woven from flowers, a rose in her hands.

Finally reaching him went the Goddess of Springtime and Queen of the Underworld to her knees in front of her husband as he sat on the trunk of an old tree, cradling his cold hands into her warm ones, head resting in his lap as she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

"Persephone, you didn't need to come." Hades spoke softly to his wife who suddenly looked up, her eyes burning with the fire of life he adored so much.

"Don't you think that I will let you alone in such a state." she snapped at him as her hands tightened around his. "I'm your wife and love you so is it natural that I don't let you alone when you are hurt."

"You know that grandmother can be just as stubborn then the rest of the family." Enysswe said with a small smile on her lips as she arrived with a panting Henry at her side, both making they way over to they grandparents and plopping down beside them in the grass.

"I know, this is why I love her so much." Hades said with a small smile which made his wife blush as she rested her head again in his lap, not minding the ghosts woven into the fabric.

"I think you certainly have proven that one during the past decades." Henry said while looking at is grandparents. "Do you know why you had only so few demigod children unlike the other gods?" both Hades and Persephone exchanged glances at this, not sure if they want to know or not, but in the end both nodded, it was better knowing now then one of them hurting later on. "All of your past lovers had one big similarity between them" Henry started softly as he smiled at his grandparents "they all had exactly the same personality as grandmother Persephone, matching till the smallest details."

"What!" Persephone asked in a stunned tone as she looked over at her equally surprised husband. She could not believe it, those women with whom her husband will cheat on her all were like her in they personality?

"Persephone?" she heard him ask worriedly and she soon understood why he was worried when she touched her cheek and found her fingers wet from tears.

"I'm fine, it is just that the fact about your lovers personalities…" she didn't say more as Hades pulled her up from her kneeling position on the ground and pulled her into his lap, burying his head into her hair which always even in winter smelled like sweet flowers.

The two of them stayed like this for a few minutes while both Enysswe and Henry looked up at the cloudless sky above them, trying not to think that after the Western Civilization will change places will the gods who went with it will return here one more time to fight a war for they own survival against the earth.

"Enysswe, you said that my son made those camps also for something other, but you didn't say for what." Hades spoke up after some time as the girl looked down.

"I can tell you, at least a little bit, but don't tell the others the third and fifth book will explain it more fully well not this, but those things in it are closely related to that. Let's just say that it all started because of a prophecy which Zeus feared and during that time had he found out that you had two demigod children aged five and two. He demanded from you to give him the children so that they can be brought to Camp Half-Blood and be trained to fight for Olymphos." she didn't need to continue because Hades's grip on his wife tightened as also her eyes filled with anger.

"Neither of the siblings would have made it alive there." Persephone said testily, her father really needed some lessons in how to be a good ruler then in the future will he do a rather horrid job.

"Grandfather come to the same conclusion when hearing the plan and uncle Adolf did the same when he found out that he had two younger siblings, he wanted to divert the attention from them while also showing to his uncle that he can't fool him." Henry said bitterly, while following they grandmother had he and Enysswe decided to not inform they grandfather about the relationship between his and his nephew's son. It was better like that mostly that so Apollo may not know about the as he in the past called it a sin or curse he passes down every generation to one of his children, a circle which got broken by En's mother.

"It seems that the Fates, Lord Chaos and Lady Nyx had the right idea with sending you children here to change things that will come." Hades said finally while resting his head again on his wife's head, letting her warmth surround him as now a slightly much calmer silence fell over them. All he needed now was having Persephone and his grandchildren near when suddenly a soft humming sound hit his ears, he knew that melody, it had been him who come up with it for the shake of his younger siblings. Opening his dark eyes he found himself looking into the tri-colour eyes of his granddaughter

"Dad tended to sing this lullaby to me when I was little or sick, just like Aunt Hazel did it for Henry." Enysswe said as Persephone also opened her eyes which she had closed when snuggling against her husband's chest.

"I also remember it, you tended to hum it when I was pregnant and I heard you on occasions singing it to our children, it seems you will be doing that for all of them." Persephone said softly.

"It seems so." Hades replied feeling a small tinge of happiness that the night song he had made up spontaneously as he tried helping Hestia settle Hera down for the night and later Poseidon, his brother had been such a fussy baby when it come to sleeping, would be still used in the future.

"I don't mind doing a duet grandfather." Enysswe said with a soft smile on her lips as the dark haired god nodded before also staring to hum the same tune as his granddaughter before both started singing to the two people who had closed they eyes and were leaning against them.

"_Night falls softly, the stars are alight, _

_the birds song rest as the water turns to a mirror._

_Close your eyes now, glistering wings,_

_powder of the deepest blue,_

_shall bring you the sweetest of dreams. _

_The night has come so rest little one._

_Eyes close as the wings brush your skin, _

_let yourself be carried by your dreams. _

_Rest little one, for you are safe by me…"_

* * *

_**Apollo and children, grandson**_

Apollo had flashed into the garden near his palace; he needed to get out of that room. The thought of one of his children doing such horrendous crimes against other living beings, he could not believe any of this. He felt sick, disappointed, horrified, but most of all disgusted not only with his future son, but also with himself. Gods hated to admit it when they have made mistakes, he was no exception, but still he knew that if the people really have so many of they stories that they will also see him for some of his deeds like a monster would they not? The way he punished those who have in his option wronged him, were those deeds not cruel? The God of Prophecy sighed painfully when the sound of running hit his ears. The steps were quick, but too loud to be from Artemis and he doubted that this would be the first place she would be looking for him, so who could it be? It didn't take long and he saw his sons and grandson hurrying into his direction.

"Boys, how come that you are here?" he asked, ignoring how his voice sounded or the wetness on his cheeks from crying.

"Enysswe had a hunch that you would be here, she told me to look for you here before she run out with Henry." Will told his father, he hated seeing him so sad, Gods never looked sad or vulnerable, they were always either happy, confident, angry, arrogant and most of all proud, never sad or in aguish.

"You were not the only one deciding to storm out of the throne room, Lord Hades also departed somewhere." Michael said carefully as his father looked down, his tears unnerved Michael, his dad never cried except maybe from laughing, but never like this.

"Dad, we are sorry, history is not always pretty." Lee said, to be honest neither of them knew how to console they father, this was something neither of them had ever needed to do in they lives.

"I'm sorry boys that I'm acting like this, being all sad and pathetic like this is not how I usually act." Apollo said as he tired to smile at his children, but it looked more like a grimace then his usual sunny smiles which threaten to blind the one looking at it.

"Don't say that father." Orpheus told his father from beside his brothers and nephew, but his father only shook his head in sadness.

"I think the only one who can do here something is Lady Di…Artemis." Octavian spoke up suddenly, somehow here in the presence of his uncles and grandfather he felt kind of relaxed, if you cut out the stabbing he felt whenever there was a whimper from his grandfather or he looked at his sad face. In the case of the others did he always feel that he needs to act so that they respect him, that they remember him only because in any other way he would be forgotten, but to be honest with such a small group here did he not feel fully like it.

"Good idea Octavian, one of us should stay here though to make sure that father is fine while we look for Lady Artemis." Orpheus said to his nephew before turning to Will who understood and stepped beside his father, placing his hands on his shoulders, while the others turned around and started running into four separated directions.

After they left was the only sound breaking the silence the small sobs coming from the golden haired god as his son tried to carefully console him with soft words his mother tended to tell him when he had been little and others made fun of him for not knowing how to read properly. He made small circles on his father's back while continuing to whisper the gentle words till the sobbing ceased again to occasional small whimpers before his father looked up at him with red trimmed, puffy eyes.

"Did you know that I kind of envy you Will?" his father asked suddenly in a soft voice making his son need to strain his ears to fully hear him.

"What do you mean father?" Will asked in a stunned tone, why would his father, an Immortal Olympian God envy his demigod son? He could not find anything his father could be envious about, he could have anything with a snap of his fingers.

"I envy you for gaining the heart which's creator I may never have." Apollo said softly as he stroke over his son's cheek, both of they skins like the warm rays of the sun. Will only looked pondering at his father not quiet understanding what he was talking about when suddenly it hit him like when they border patrol was literally run over by the Ares cabin.

"You are in love with Lord Hades." he gasped in shock, but this would explain the strange way he acted by lunch, his father only chuckled bitterly.

"I still like to call it a crush, for the shake of my sanity, but yes I like him. I'm not sure when it had started, but something in him made me want to be close. Alas that is not exactly which I can control all too good as you have seen it when I needed to flash out of the throne room when the children talked about the Tournament Week or my embarrassing behaviour by lunch." Will nodded in understanding still feeling somewhat awkward about the whole talking to your father about his love interest in your future-father-in-law whose son you will marry, Gods or in the current situation his daughter knows when, oh and also that said god also happens to be your father's uncle. One should really ignore the family relationship lines and just go simply with 'we are related family' that explains everything. "There is also the fact that since I can remember had he never really shown interest in any other divinity or even nature spirits; I still find it a wonder that he will even have demigods. The only person he ever showed actual deep interest in was Persephone, you know I saw when he abducted her and failed to tell Demeter, your grandaunt was pretty miffed when I finally did." Apollo said with a humourless laugh. "I thought that he was doing this to annoy her seeing how they had an argument the last time he had been allowed up here for the council and would return her unharmed in a few days. When…when Hermes told me that they married I broke on the inside." Will listened to his father while pulling him closer against his chest, it must have been hard on him to like someone who may never notice you even if you have all eternity for that.

"I'm sorry dad…" he felt kind of stupid for saying this, but what could he do to change things? Saying that he should continue trying and eventually his feelings will be returned? No, his dad didn't deserve lying to.

"Don't be; only be happy that you will have something which is one of the hardest things to gain no matter if you are mortal or immortal." Apollo told him son with a small smile on his lips.

* * *

_**Big Five **_

The five children of Kronos and Rhea had gathered in a small clearing not all to far from the palace, but still scheduled enough that someone should not walk in on them by accident. The revelation some minutes ago had left them all in both shock and guilt; they did not know that in the future one of they brother's children would wish for they father to overthrow them.

"Is this what you have truly wanted Zeus? Did you hear what will come even before the things we are hearing in these books?" Poseidon demanded from his youngest brother.

"Poseidon don't…" but Hestia halted Zeus in his words.

"Poseidon is right brother, since we had won against our father, and this time I speak to all of you then there was none of you who had not agreed on that cruel betrayal against our brother. Even I'm not free from blame because I hadn't protested more vehemently, set my foot down as the oldest of us." Hestia said with saddened eyes as she remembered the time when it were only her and Hades trapped inside they father, the way he would always snuggle up to her because she felt so pleasantly warm while his skin was always so cold. She missed those small moments of innocent intimacy.

"I agree with Hestia" Hera spoke up "we should tell Hades why we act the way around him as we do, the situation can't be held for long then eventually he will take a step against us and…I'm not sure which side I would choose." Hera admitted with her head held low.

"You all know why I made this decision; Hades was and is too much like him…I wanted to protect everyone from a second so-called Golden-Age." Zeus protested while shaking his head, the situation was kind of delicate to say at least. "Why do you think I had made sure that he falls in love with Persephone?" but as soon as Zeus said this did he realize that he made a terrible mistake when meeting the eyes of his sister.

"_What do you mean by 'made him fall in love with Kore'?_ " Demeter asked in a threateningly low tone while Poseidon immediately grabbed both his remaining sisters by the arm and pulled them behind himself and started slowly backing away.

"Uhm…I made her play near him, spend time around him when he was here and you know gave Hades tips what she would like for her birthdays, but he actually is kind of pretty good with picking presents of his own and well I though if he had a…wife who belonged here could well…with me being her father she would tell me if Hades plans an attack on us…I didn't know that she would also fall in love with him." Zeus stammered as Demeter advanced towards him, her face redder then the ripest tomato, her eyes blazing like the sun never could manage.

_**ZEUS! **_

The children of said god looked up in shock as they heard the blood curling scream of they aunt scarring most of the birds and everyone who heard it half to death.

"What do you recon father did to get her to scream as if she would any second gut him?" Ares asked his siblings who were all looking just as bewildered as him.

"Not sure, but I hope that someone tells me so that I can avoid doing or saying the same in her earshot." Hermes said as the others nodded in agreement, they aunt was usually more annoying with her constant rants about cereal, wheat and farm work, but never aggressive enough to make them all shake in fear.

"We can figure that out later, first we need to split up and look for Apollo, we still have thirty minutes to find him, talk to him and get him to his senses." Athena said to her siblings.

"Did you notice that since we got these books here we spend quite some times with interacting with each other and I don't mean screaming insults at each others heads, but actually talking in normal tones?" asked Hermes, he usually had such talks only with Apollo the others were harder cases.

"I agree with Hermes, I even had a talk with mother and it is shocking, but I may forgive her for throwing me of Olymphos one day, but till then we will act decent with each other." Hephaestus said at which Ares stared wide eyed at his blood brother while Hermes started gapping, so he didn't imagine Hera smiling at him and his granddaughter.

"She talked with you?" he asked incredulously. "Why didn't she do the same with me, I mean I'm also her son." Ares said feeling slightly hurt, not that he would ever admit it out loud.

"She has her reasons to believe that you would not be interested in what she says, but maybe you could start a conversation with her and see how it goes." the God of Smiths suggested to his brother, he didn't want to tell Ares what they mother told him how she felt when his brother's spectre of power got revealed, it was not his place to tell, something in him didn't want to break his mother's trust.

"I may try." Ares said finally.

"We should now get going." Dionysus suddenly said getting the attention of his siblings.

"Lets go, everyone pick a direction and start searching, Apollo can't be that hard to find." Athena said as all of them nodded and run into different directions.

At the same time were a number of minor gods gathered together, moving they heads from right to left like some will do when tennis matches get invented. Some flinched on occasions; some looked amused while others made small bets.

"Someone please remind me that whatever Lord Zeus did that I don't do the same." said Eulabeia while watching with morbid fascination as the King of the Gods was again thrown against a large tree by the powers of his angry sister who at the moment looked as if she could make a whole army of Titans run away crying by only looking at them.

"I don't care whatever he said, let me enjoy this sight." Eris said as she was eating some grapes, the goddess of strife was highly enjoying the torment of her sister's attacker no matter who made him suffer.

"I think it would be a good idea if no one tells Lady Demeter that when she is angry like this her nose scrunches just like that of her father when he was in that mood." whispered Thrasos, even he wasn't that bold to do that and he was the personification of that act!

This was also when Dionysus passed them in the search for his brother, stopping for a few seconds to see the prediction his father was in.

"Well, I certainly don't want to be in his place at the moment." he said while leaving the crowd of onlooking minor divinities and made his way to the other side of the clearing where he stopped again in his tracks when spotting a familiar figure sitting under one of the olive trees, her smile warming his heart like always.

"You always seem to find me wherever I'm." Ariadne said as she stood up from the ground, dusting some grass from her white dress as her husband reached her, kissing her hands gently.

"That is because I love you Ariadne." he told her, but on the inside he wondered how she would react to the knowledge that currently in the palace three children sat who were his with two mortal women.

"My Lord, may I ask you a question?" Ariadne inquired with a gentle smile on her lips, but a part of her was slightly nervous, she chided that side to keep still.

"Whatever you wish, I will answer you with all honesty." he told his lovely princess, her small hands still in his, he was glad that Theseus had no clue that she was here, but a part of him was more concentrated on her upcoming question.

"Would you find me if I would be lost?" now that question surprised him and also made him force himself to not look in panic at the palace. Did she know about the children or Theseus being here? Was she planning on leaving him? Neither of those questions made him happy, but he remembered that she waited for his answer so he did.

"I would find you wherever you are, just like on that island and inside the Underworld." Dionysus answered.

"Would you also find me if only a part of me was lost?" she asked again stunning her husband. What did she mean by that question that finding her when only a part of her was gone, but again he answered her with that what he felt.

"I would still find you no matter what or how long it takes." he answered at which she gave him a relieved smile which confused him, but her soft lips on his made him forget about it.

"I thank you my Lord for answering me honestly, now I believe you were in a hurry for something?" her husband nodded at this and even if reluctantly, but he let go of her hands and started walking away, but turned around one last time.

"Ariadne, try avoiding the west part of the clearing, my aunt is currently busy there using my father as a kind of ball to toss against trees." he informed her at which the Goddess of Labyrinths nodded while watching her husband depart, a warm relieved feeling flooding her body.

* * *

_**Artemis, Orion and Apollo**_

The Goddess of the Hunt was hurrying through the lush forest in a frantic search for her twin brother. She had not found him on the archery range like she expected or everywhere near the vicinity, then she checked Hermes's rooms where he had hidden out a few times when he had made her angry, but also no such luck. His room in the main palace was also empty, the ranch? She didn't know that they had flesh eating horses there, she would need to find out who they belonged to, but not was not the time.

She needed to find Apollo before he does something stupid like when going for that python.

She remembered how panicked she felt when going to his room and finding a note that he went to kill the monster which had tormented they mother for so long. The agonizing fear which nearly paralyzed her when he returned looking half dead, his clothes were dirty from mud, blood and guts, ripped, she nearly didn't recogrinaize him with his golden hair nearly looking black from the dried blood and dirt, his face on one side swollen, he had broken bones, several deep gashes by which he was lucky that they didn't get infected. He was to thin for her comfort and could barely stand and that was not only because of his broken right let. She had taken care of him, bringing him back to health, she had wondered back then if this would be one of her tasks in her eternal life.

"Lady Artemis!" a voice from behind her broke the goddess out of her thoughts and made her whirl around to see a familiar demigod nearing her looking relieved that he had managed to catch up to her.

"Orion, what are you doing here?" she asked him in surprise while trying to understand if her heart beat faster from her worry for her brother or because of the other's presence.

"I come to help you find Lord Apollo." he knew that this was partly a lye, Lord Apollo looked like he would just love to burn him into a crisp and throw his remains into Tartaros whenever he saw him and he was currently making an understatement here, but he hoped to get some points for helping his sister finding him.

"I'm the Goddess of the Hunt, I can track him down." she said, but right after that wanted to kick herself, Apollo was not some kind of wild animal which needed tracking down, but her brother who needed finding.

She was to busy with her thoughts that she failed to notice the tick root which was standing out of the ground and tripped on it suddenly which would have ended in an ungraceful fall if it weren't for the strong arms which wrapped around her. Looking up found the Goddess her eyes locked with deep, sea-green eyes making her freeze down.

"Are you alright Milady?" Orion asked the goddess worriedly while trying to ignore the fact how wonderful it felt to hold her in his arms, they bodies so close and when she placed her hands on his arms little sparks of electricity went through his body.

"Ye…yes I was careless." Artemis said feeling embarrassed that she did such a mistake; she needed to get a grip on herself while trying to ignore the strange feeling spreading in her. She was not used to being held by a man, the only one who had ever held her had been the very same person she was now looking for and no one other, not even her father.

"You are more then welcome Lady Artemis." Orion whispered softly, they faces were so close that he wondered if it would be ok to kiss her, but before he could find out someone cleared they throat behind them making Artemis pull away from his in a hurry, both of them blushing in embarrassment.

"Lady Artemis, I come to bring you to your brother." Octavian said while trying not to glare at the son of Neptune who had his arms on his grandaunt a few seconds ago making the augur pleased that he arrived just in time.

"Please show me the way Octavian." Artemis said while walking over to her grandnephew, when her back was to the two young men Octavian gave a warning glare to Orion who shuddered while cursing on the inside that Lord Apollo's glare seemed to be inheritable as seemed his dislike towards him. Just wonderful.

It took Octavian only like ten minutes to reach the place where both his grandfather and uncle were. When they arrived he caught Will's eyes who nodded and gently pulled away from the blonde God and gave up his place to his aunt, joining his nephew both of them walking away while Octavian relented to him how he found her with Orion.

Apollo had been slightly confused when he felt the warmth of his son retreat form him and be replaced by a slightly cooler warmth he knew only all to well. Opening his eyes looked sky-blue ones up into silver ones. He was stunned that she was there and holding him, the last time she did that was after he killed they mother's tormentor after that no more, but here she was now hugging him fiercely against her chest, her face and right hand buried into his hair.

Artemis let the world slip by her when the relief of having found her brother flooded through her making her want to never let him go. Holding him like this, feeling his warmth go through her body reminded him on the time when they were little and one of them would sneak into the other's bed and they would snuggle up against each other. She enjoyed this mostly in the colder nights, her brother and twin she helped be born had always been precious to her. No matter how irritating carefree he was, no matter his dumb comments or his constant flirtings with her hunters she still cared about him, but failed to show it. She silently wondered when they had drifted apart that it become so hard for her to just smile at him, to hug her brother. She knew that it had nothing to do with her vow to stay a virgin and never let a man touch her in that way, he himself had not some time ago declared to Aphrodite that he would never be interested in her like that so when did they bond start to vein? Then she thought that she heard Demeter scream her father's name and it hit her, when they come to live at they father's court and become part of the Council of the Twelve Olympians, after that everything started to change. They started slipping away from each other, her spending more and more time with the hunt or Athena, constantly fighting with the thickhead Aphrodite while he spent his time pulling silly pranks with Hermes and flirting around constantly. They were slipping through each others fingers like the light they seem to emit, like Helios's and Selene's avatars which they took over for them on occasions, the moon and sun are constantly separated.

"Arty?" Apollo's soft whine made her look down at him in confusion.

"You are kind of hurting me." he said with a careful, but still pained smile making Artemis blush as she realized that she had constantly tightened her hold on him while she was thinking.

"Sorry…" she said still blushing.

"It is fine." Apollo said as he leaned back into his twins embrace feeling just like when they had been little and neither wanted that any different.

* * *

_**Back in the palace **_

The demigods were still waiting for the gods to return so they found ways to busy themselves with talking to each other about the similarities and differences of they camps and how they could improve them with changes much to the relief of they trainers who were watching them with unwavering eyes. Well not fully seeing how little Perses had jumped down from his mother's lap and had made his way over to the two immortal trainers of heroes and started bombarding them with eager questions like any little kid would who knew that they granddad was a god and that they parents got together with his daddy turning a monster into stone while riding a flying horse to save his mommy. Yes, that is certainly not your typical 'I met your mom on a dance' type of story. Fredric watched the whole thing silently as the demigods interacted with each other; feeling slightly surprised that even though there were thousand of years between some of them that the fact that they were demigods made them still able to understand one another. Both Queen Amphitrite and her son Triton had retreated not long ago, the queen to see after Aphrodite and her daughters while her son went to investigate that loud scream which sounded suspiciously like the name of Lord Zeus. It didn't take all to long for the Queen of the Seas to return with a slightly pale green looking Aphrodite clinging to her, both Dakota and Beckendorf hurried forth to assist Silena and Gwen with getting back to they seats. Sue also returned with the children, but gave her husband a small glare for not coming with them. Triton got back after them followed by his father, younger brother who avoided all questioning gazes, and his two aunts, but neither Zeus or Demeter were with them. Apollo and Artemis were next much to the relief of everyone looked the god somewhat back to normal, Apollo's kids and grandson strolled after them and being followed five minutes later by Hades and his family. The rest of the council arrived another five minutes later, but still there was no sign of Zeus and Demeter.

"Uhm…where are father and Aunt Demeter?" Apollo asked after his half-siblings finished either hugging him or giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"The two of them had kind of a let's say disagreement." Poseidon tried to explain while throwing a fleeting glance at his niece who had decided that she didn't like sitting on her throne anymore and was instead in her husband's lap. Was it only him, or looked Apollo disappointed and was one of his sons knowing something?

"So this is why she lets the trees smack him around like a leather ball?" Dionysus asked as his sibling blinked at him.

"She does what?" everyone in the room inquired when the doors opened revealing a still fuming Demeter who threw a murderous glare at the limping King of Heavens, who looked as if a forest had attacked him which in a way really was the case, when spotting her daughter's new seating arrangements.

"Sorry for the delay, we should continue now." she said making her way briskly to her throne while Apollo tended to his father as Bellerophon picked up the book and started reading after finding the paragraph he left of, this was also the time Misty gave the signal for returning.

_**The winning side, Zeus and Poseidon, made Hades swear an oath with them: no more affairs with mortal women. They all swore on the River Styx."**_

The hall went silent as beside Hades and Persephone everyone of the past stared gapping at both Zeus and Poseidon who on the other hand looked bewildered.

"You know, I could see this oath more better if it would have been the other way around." Hermes said with the others nodding.

"And we know how much that one was kept in the end." Hera said while looking over at the children who come form the future.

_**Thunder boomed.**_

_**I said, "That's the most serious oath you can make."**_

_**Grover nodded.**_

_**"And the brothers kept their word-no kids?"**_

"Not as it seems." Orpheus said jokingly as he looked at the legacies who grinned back at his sheepishly.

_**Grover's face darkened. "Seventeen years ago, Zeus fell off the wagon.**_

Everyone nodded at this while said god glowered at his family, but didn't dare to say anything this was the whole thing with Dionysus all over again.

_**There was this TV starlet with a big fluffy eighties hairdo-he just couldn't help himself. When their child was born, a little girl named Thalia . . .**_

Annabeth bit back a sob, her poor friend, Sally walked over to her mom and hugged her she would have liked to tell her that in they time aunt Thalia was fine, but that would spoil the end of the second book.

_**well, the River Styx is serious about promises. Zeus himself got off easy because he's immortal, but he brought a terrible fate on his daughter."**_

Zeus looked down on the ground, but looked up when Jay suddenly gasped in shock, his blue eyes wide in realization, his body shaking.

"Jay what is wrong?" Reyna asked worried as Lupa stood up with a sigh from her spot beside Chiron and walked over to the blonde praetor.

"I was made to swear that I will keep it a secret." Lupa started as she looked over at the legacies if she should say it or not.

"It may be mentioned somewhere in the _Lost Hero_, but I think you should tell the basic." Nathan told the wolf goddess who nodded and nudged Jason gently with her nose.

"The young lady who just got mentioned his both Jason's full-blood and half-sister, Jay had been given into my care when he was around two years old." Lupa said to the confused and shocked audience while settling beside Jason and allowing him to lean into her rust coloured fur like he had tended to do when he had been little.

"How can someone be ones full-blood and half-sibling at the same time?" asked Jake looking at both Annabeth and Malcolm.

"Thalia's father is Lord Zeus, but when he visited her mother for the second time was he in his for as Jupiter." Lupa explained patiently while Jay was still snuggled up against her, his shoulders shaking slightly which made his siblings and friends worried, these books were giving all of them a heart break. "Continue reading and you will understand his reaction." Lupa said sighing; her pup needed her for a while.

_**"But that isn't fair! It wasn't the little girl's fault."**_

No one commented, but on the inside were all demigods agreeing, but unfortunately it seemed that it were always them who were punished or made to attorn for they parents sins.

_**Grover hesitated."Percy, children of the Big Three have powers greater than other half-bloods.**_

"And he is part of the strongest generation that ever was of them." the present Big Three grandchildren chorused together proudly at which they grandfathers seemed to be stuck between looking proud, worried or in the case of two brothers apologetic towards they spouses. The older heroes only pouted while even Jay managed a small smile before hiding his face again, he knew that his sister was dead, but he feared that he would not hear _how_ she died.

_**They have a strong aura, a scent that attracts monsters. When Hades found out about the girl, he wasn't too happy about Zeus breaking his oath. Hades let the worst monsters out of Tartarus to torment Thalia.**_

Jay let out a miserable sob and Annabeth glared at the Lord of the Underworld who on the other hand was looking at is grandchildren, understanding in his eyes now that he knew why he would be so enraged about the birth of that girl. Zeus meanwhile wanted to snap at his brother, but Enysswe's cold tone stopped him.

"He had a right to do what he did, I don't say that it was good, but you had brought his wrath on your daughter if not for you my grandfather would not have reacted like this to her. Your read before only two monsters in two separated time frames, one watching him for months instead of hunting like in her case." Enysswe said making Athena and her children look at her realizing the same thing. "You will know later in the fifth book what you have done to bring that fate on your own child, but as said the only one who is blamed for his reaction is you." she finished with a growl before turning to Bellerophon who immediately started yelping, that kid was Lord Hades's grandkid alright.

_**A satyr was assigned to be her keeper when she was twelve, but there was nothing he could do. He tried to escort her here with a couple of other half-bloods she'd befriended. They almost made it. They got all the way to the top of that hill."**_

Annabeth let her head drop again while now Malcolm was also hugging her as Athena and Fredric tensed realizing that Annabeth had been present at that time, making both of them go rigid in they seats.

_**He pointed across the valley, to the pine tree where I'd fought the minotaur.**_

The Romans and all those who didn't know the story sat a bit straighter wanting to know the significance of that tree, but they were also worried about Jay who was still hiding his face in Lupa's fur as the wolf placed her head on the teens shoulder.

_**"All three Kindly Ones were after them, along with a hoard of hell hounds.**_

Athena had gone deadly pale surprisingly it was Ares who leaned over and patted her arm to try calming his half-sister down, luckily were all to busy listening to the story to pay to much attention to his gesture. Even if they did he would just glare at them, they had told them already the both of them represent the two sides of war, naturally they rub each other of on the wrong way, but that is natural they still balance out each others properties on the battlefield.

_**They were about to be overrun when Thalia told her satyr to take the other two half-bloods to safety while she held off the monsters. She was wounded and tired, and she didn't want to live like a hunted animal.**_

Tears were streaming down Annabeth's eyes as she remembered Thalia yelling at Grover to take her and Luke to safety, how Luke had protested, but she didn't change her mind. When Jay let out another whimper scooted Reyna closer to looking at Lupa who nodded and allowed the girl to rest her body against that of the blonde.

_**The satyr didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't change her mind, and he had to protect the others. So Thalia made her final stand alone, at the top of that hill.**_

Many bowed they heads at this, the sons of Zeus in they grief for they little sister while the Romans for the sister of they praetor.

_**As she died, Zeus took pity of her. He turned her into that pine tree. Her spirit still helps protect the borders of the valley. That's why the hill is called Half-Blood Hill."**_

The sound of small sobs could be heard in and out of the palace before everyone held a minute of silence for the young demigod.

_**I stared at the pine in the distance.**_

_**The story made me feel hollow, and guilty too. A girl my age had sacrificed herself to save her friends. She had faced a whole army of monsters. Next to that, my victory over the Minotaur didn't seem like much. I wondered, if I'd acted differently, could I have saved my mother?**_

"N…no…what you do…did was also heroic…" Jay said with a weak voice as he pulled away from Lupa, but still allowed Reyna to put her arms around him. Looking to his side he nodded to the she-wolf who nudged him once more before turning away and returning to her spot beside Chiron who looked at her in understanding.

_**"Grover," I said, "have heroes really gone on quests to the Underworld?"**_

Dionysus, Orpheus and Hercules nodded they heads they had all gone down there at lest once.

_**"Sometimes," he said. "Orpheus. Hercules. Houdini."**_

The mentioned two heroes smiled, but looked puzzled at the third name.

"Houdini was a Son of Hermes and an escaping artist." Malcolm supplied.

_**"And have they ever returned somebody from the dead?"**_

"Wrong, there was a certain young man who had come to my realm and managed to leave with the soul he wished to return to life." Hades said with a smile while Dionysus tried not to blush at the hidden praise in his uncle's voice while the others who didn't know looked confused.

_**"No. Never. Orpheus came close . . .**_

"Yes I was close, but was too foolish and didn't listen to the kind hearted advice Lord Hades had given me and thus failed." Orpheus said with a sad smile as he remembered his lovely Eurydice.

_**Percy, you're not seriously thinking-"**_

_**"No," I lied. "I was just wondering. So . . . a satyr is always assigned to guard a demigod?"**_

_**Grover studied me warily. I hadn't persuaded him that I'd really dropped the Underworld idea. "Not always. We go undercover to a lot of schools. We try to sniff out the half-bloods who have the makings of great heroes. If we find one with a very strong aura, like a child of the Big Three, we alert Chiron. He tries to keep an eye on them, since they cause really huge problems."**_

"That is putting it lightly what they can do and as said that generation is the most catastrophic of them all." Mich said grinning before he was hit over the head by the children of said catastrophic generation, Sally had by that time returned to her original seat. This only made the gods exchange nervous glances.

_**"And you found me. Chiron said you thought I might be something special."**_

_**Grover looked as if I'd just led him into a trap. "I didn't . . . Oh, listen, don't think like that. If you were-you know-you'd never ever allowed a quest, and I'd never get my license. You're probably a child of Hermes. Or maybe even one of the minor gods, like Nemesis, the god of revenge. Don't worry, okay?"**_

"Did uncle Grover just call one of my grandaunts a guy?" Enysswe asked in a disbelieving tone while Zeus tried to not say that she certainly was female, but refrained from commenting, he was attacked enough today by angry goddesses.

"Nemesis is certainly not male." Artemis snapped while outside Nemesis let out an indignant shriek that she was not a male god and those who knew her were also confused about the misplacing of her gender.

"Uhm… I think he failed to note the name he brought up as an example and just picked one." Sally tried to save the poor satyr from having a serious talk with her cousin.

_**I got the idea he was reassuring himself more than me.**_

There were some snickers at this.

_**That night after dinner, there was a lot more excitement than usual.**_

_**At last, it was time for capture the flag.**_

_**When the plates were cleared away, the conch horn sounded and we all stood at our tables.**_

_**Campers yelled and cheered as Annabeth and two of her siblings ran into the pavilion carrying a silk banner. It was about ten feet long, glistening gray, with a painting of a barn owl above an olive tree.**_

Athena and her children beamed, she was feeling a bit calmer now that she didn't hear about how much danger her daughter had been in when she was seven, but wondered what Enysswe meant that what happened had been her father's fault. Fredric had it harder to calm down after hearing what had nearly befallen his child, no wonder she resented him so much.

_**From the opposite side of the pavilion, Clarisse and her buddies ran in with another banner, of identical size, but gaudy red, painted with a bloody spear and a boar's head.**_

Now was Ares and Clarisse who were grinning, but it soon disappeared and turned into a frown when he suddenly saw everyone freeze down and stare at him with wide eyes, some were even gapping, his family members included.

"What is it?" he demanded when he saw Hermes point slightly downwards. Raising and eyebrow he looked down and noticed that his hand was still resting on Athena's who had in her worry laced they fingers together. It seemed that she had now also noticed and both of them let go as if they would have been burned.

"Bellerophon, start reading." snapped Athena her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

_**I turned to Luke and yelled over the noise, "Those are the flags?"**_

_**"Yeah."**_

_**"Ares and Athena always lead the teams?"**_

_**"Not always," he said. "But often."**_

_**"So, if another cabin captures one, what do you do-repaint the flag?"**_

Only the legacies and Perses snickered at this the others were still kind of in shock form the missunderstandable picture a few sentences ago.

_**He grinned. "You'll see. First we have to get one."**_

_**"Whose side are we on?"**_

_**He gave me a sly look, as if he knew something I didn't.**_

And Luke was back to muttering angrily under his breath.

_**The scar on his face made him look almost evil in the torchlight.**_

"I wouldn't say 'almost' dad replace that with 'fully' and you got it perfectly right." Luke said bitterly this seemed to snap everyone out of they daze then now they were all staring at him, his mother looked like whenever she was about to demand and answer, but he only gestured to his uncle to continue.

_**"We've made a temporary alliance with Athena. Tonight, we get the flag from Ares. And you are going to help."**_

The legacies scowled.

"He hated that plan mom and looking back at it, the plan was mean." Sally said while looking up at the ceiling, it was strange not seeing the Huntress constellation up there by the others.

_**The teams were announced. Athena had made an alliance with Apollo and Hermes, the two biggest cabins.**_

Apollo sunk down blushing in his throne by the looks he was getting, Hermes got of easily seeing that he had a bunch of unclaimed kids in his cabin.

_**Apparently, privileges had been traded-shower times, chore schedules, the best slots for activities-in order to win support.**_

"That doesn't sound like a bad idea, making alliances with other teams." Jay said while looking up at Reyna who nodded feeling glad that he started feeling better now.

_**Ares had allied themselves with everybody else: Dionysus, Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. From what I'd seen, Dionysus's kids were actually good athletes, but there were only two of them.**_

Both Castor and Pollux looked proud at this, it was better as being called plump while Dakota grinned at his brother.

_**Demeter's kids had the edge with nature skills and outdoor stuff, but they weren't very aggressive.**_

At this most people who had witnessed or seen the result of the now smugly grinning Demeter's wrath snorted.

"I think father would like to differ about that statement." Apollo whispered to Hermes who nodded eagerly, happy that his brother was back to normal again.

_**Aphrodite's son and daughters I wasn't too worries about. They mostly sat out every activity and checked their reflections in the lake and did their hair and gossiped.**_

Aphrodite frowned at his slightly not understanding the problem while Gwen looked a bit envious about that chance, but both Silena and Mitchell were looking at the ground blushing in embarrassment.

"Well, they certainly are ready for a fight whenever the Hunters visit." Malcolm said earning himself a beaming smile from the brunette who sat beside him which on the other hand made him blush. He wasn't even sure why he threw in that statement, but something had bothered him seeing the other look down like that.

"I can imagine if they are anything close in relationship like when they mother and Artemis face of against each other in an argument." Hephaestus said as he found when he had been working on before they made a pause in the reading.

"They certainly are dad." Beckendorf said as he smiled at a blushing Silena before both him and Jake turned back to they left of work.

"Kelly and the other Aphrodite kids in our time are the same." Sally said smiling.

_**Hephaestus's kids weren't pretty, and there were only four of them, but they were big and burly from working in the metal shop all day. They might be a problem.**_

"Of course we are, mostly our automatons are the ones you need to look out for." Jake piped in proudly which made his father smile with pride.

_**That, of course, left Ares's cabin: a dozen of the biggest, ugliest, meanest kids on Long Island, or anywhere else on the planet.**_

"HEY!" yelled again Ares, his kids and Ace.

_**Chiron hammered his hoof on the marble.**_

_**"Heroes!" he announced. "You know the rules. The creek is the boundary line. The entire forest is fair game. All magic items are allowed. The banner must be prominently displayed, and have no more than two guards. Prisoners may be disarmed, but may not be bound or gagged. No killing or maiming is allowed. I will serve as referee and battlefield medic. Arm yourselves!"**_

The Romans looked interested, this game was in some way similar to they War Games, but also pretty different in the case of some of the rules and how one plays it, but sounded fun none then less.

"Maiming…killing?" Fredric choked out.

"Of course, this is only Capture the Flag and not a war, though most of the time gets the 'no maiming' rule ignored." Annabeth said casually while her brothers exchanged slightly scarred looks, this sounded not fun at all.

"Barbaric." Sue mumbled shuddering.

_**He spread his hands, and the tables were suddenly covered with equipment: helmets, bronze swords, spears, oxhide shields coated in metal.**_

_**"Whoa," I said. "We're really supposed to use them?"**_

A few people snickered at this while the others only shook they heads.

_**Luke looked at me as if I were crazy "Unless you want to get skewered by your friends in cabin five. Here-Chiron thought these would fit. You'll be on border patrol."**_

_**My shield was the size of an NBA backboard, with a big caduceus in the middle. It weighed about a million pounds. I could have snowboarded on it fine, but I hoped nobody seriously expected me to run fast. My helmet, like all the helmets on Athena's side, had a blue horsehair plume on top. Ares and their allies had red plumes.**_

"Well, it would be confusing without it." Chris stated remembering that when the game really started was it already hard to tell who was with whom, he didn't want to even think how it would be without the colour of the plumes.

_**Annabeth yelled, "Blue team, forward!"**_

_**We cheered and shook our swords and followed her down the path to the south woods. The red team yelled taunts at us as they headed off toward the north.**_

_**I managed to catch up with Annabeth without tripping over my equipment. "Hey."**_

_**She kept marching.**_

"Ow, you are giving him the cool shoulder." Silena said while Annabeth blushed and her father looked pleased, but then remembered the siblings sitting also in this room reminding him tauntingly that she will not keep that act up for to long.

_**"So what's the plan?" I asked. "Got any magic items you can loan me?"**_

_**Her hand drifted toward her pocket, as if she were afraid I'd stolen something.**_

"Even if we would love it was it already established that he was not our brother and really Annabeth, you have seen our dad and Percy doesn't look like him at all." Travis said while shaking his head at the still blushing Athena girl who was glaring at everyone who snickered at her.

_**"Just watch Clarisse's spear," she said. "You don't want that thing touching you.**_

Those who knew what was behind that sentence either grinned or flinched while the others looked confused.

_**Otherwise, don't worry. We'll take the banner from Ares. Has Luke given you your job?"**_

_**"Border patrol, whatever that means."**_

_**"It's easy. Stand by the creek, keep the reds away. Leave the rest to me. Athena always had a plan."**_

Athena beamed while Poseidon rolled his eyes at her.

_**She pushed ahead, leaving me in the dust.**_

_**"Okay," I mumbled. "Glad you wanted me on your team."**_

Annabeth let her head drop, she really was not making the best impressions on him and she really started wondering how exactly they have managed to end up together.

_**It was a warm, sticky night. The woods were dark, with fireflies popping in and out of view. Annabeth stationed me next to a little creek that gurgled over some rocks, then she and the rest of the team scattered into the trees.**_

_**Standing there alone, with my big blue-feathered helmet and my huge shield, I felt like an idiot.**_

Again some snickered at this.

_**The bronze sword, like all the swords I'd tried so far, seemed balanced wrong. The leather grip pulled on my hand like a bowling ball.**_

_**There was no way anybody would actually attack me, would they? I mean, Olympus had to have liability issues, right?**_

"No." come it from all gods, demigods and legacies making Fredric want to groan.

_**Far away, the conch horn blew. I heard whoops and yells in the woods, the clanking of metal, kids fighting. A blue plumed ally from Apollo raced part me like a deer, leaped through the creek, and disappeared into enemy territory. **_

The Apollo kids squirmed at this with slight embarrassment while Misty leaned over to Enysswe.

"I think we shouldn't inform your mom that it was him in that paragraph." she whispered to the other girl.

"Only if you want him to black out again with an unnatural skin colour." she answered.

_**Great, I though. I'll miss all the fun, as usual.**_

_**Then I heard a sound that sent a chill up my spine, a low canine growl, somewhere close by.**_

Everyone tensed at this while the legacies narrowed they eyes, so this was when he had summoned it.

_**I raised my shield instinctively; I had the feeling something was stalking me.**_

"Good son, don't let your guard down." Poseidon said nervously.

_**Then the growling stopped. I felt the presence retreating.**_

"He certainly has good instincts." Lupa said with approval.

_**On the other side of the creek, the underbrush exploded. Five Ares warriors came yelling and screaming out of the dark.**_

_**"Cream the punk!" Clarisse screamed.**_

_**Her ugly pig eyes glared through the slits of her helmet. She brandished a five-foot-long spear, its barbed metal tip flickering with red light. Her siblings had only the standard issue bronze swords-not that made me feel any better.**_

_**They charged across the stream. There was no help in sight. I could run. Or I could defend myself against half the Ares cabin.**_

"Ah mom, if you want to know this is a good deal of the plan dad hated." Sally told her mother who looked somewhat worried, yes she was making horrible impressions on Percy.

_**I managed to sidestep the first kid's swing, but these guys were not as stupid the Minotaur. They surrounded me, and Clarisse thrust at me with her spear. My shield deflected the point, but I felt a painful tingling all over my body. My hair stood on end. My shield arm went numb and the air burned.**_

_**Electricity. Her stupid spear was electric.**_

Many jaws dropped at his wile Clarisse smiled smugly, her father only grinned he really should infuse some of spears with lightning, the instant flaming ones or the spears which froze everything they impaled were fun and all, but this sounded even better.

_**I fell back.**_

_**Another Ares guy slammed me in the chest with the butt of his sword and I hit the dirt.**_

_**They could've kicked me into jelly, but they were too busy laughing.**_

_**"Give him a haircut, Clarisse said."Grab his hair."**_

_**I managed to get to my feet. I raised my sword, but Clarisse slammed it aside with er spear as sparks flew. Now both my arms felt numb.**_

_**"Oh wow," Clarisse said. "I'm scared of this guy. Really scared."**_

_**"The flag is that way," I told her. I wanted to sound angry, but I was afraid that it didn't come out that way.**_

Some were about to open they mouths to complain about that, but Mich spoke up before they could.

"Good for them they didn't make it; I heard that there was a pretty good trap made around the flag which would have stopped about fifteen people at once regards its strength so they would have walked right into it." this made everyone close they mouths again.

_**"Yeah," one of her siblings said. "But see, we don't care about the flag. We care about a guy who made our cabin look stupid."**_

"And there was that also." Mich said sheepishly while those who had at least once been on the receiving end of the Ares cabin's wrath flinched in sympathy and Poseidon glared at his nephew.

"I think that was uncle Mark who commented that." Ace added in looking thoughtful.

_**"You do that without my help," I told them**__. __**It probably wasn't the smartest thing to say.**_

"You think?" Hermes asked as some people groaned at the guy's ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

_**Two of them came at me. I backed up toward the creek, tried to raise my shield, but Clarisse was too fast. Her spear stuck me straight in the ribs. If I hadn't been wearing an armored breastplate, I would've been shishkebabbed.**_

_**As it was, the electric point just about shocked my teeth out of my mouth. One of her cabinmates slashed his sword across my arm, leaving a good-size cut.**_

_**Seeing my own blood made me dizzy-warm and cold at the same time.**_

"Says the guy with the longest track-record of near death experiences." Nathan said shaking his head while Poseidon let out a whimper, Orion, Theseus and even Triton looked only about to be sick.

_**"No maiming," I managed to say.**_

_**"Oops," the guy said. "Guess I lost my dessert privilege."**_

"I'm always hoping on they liking for sweets." Chiron defended himself when the god stared at him incredulously.

_**He pushed me into the creek and I landed with a splash. They all laughed. I figured as soon as they were through being amused, I would die.**_

_**But then something happened. The water seemed to wake up my senses, as if I'd just had a bag of my mom's double-espresso jellybeans.**_

Poseidon and his kids relaxed again while both Ares and Clarisse started mumbling curses under they breath about stupid water powers.

_**Clarisse and her cabinmates came into the creek to get me, but I stood to meet them. I knew what to do. I swung the flat of my sword against the first guy's head and knocked his helmet clean off. I hit him so hard I could see his eyes vibrating as he crumpled into the water.**_

_**Ugly Number Two and Ugly Number Three came at me. I slammed one in the face with my shield and used my sword to shear off the other guy's horsehair plume. Both of them backed up quick.**_

_**Ugly Number Four didn't look really anxious to attack, but Clarisse kept coming, the point of her spear crackling with energy. As soon as she thrust. I caught the shaft between the edge of my shield and my sword, and I snapped it like a twig.**_

"You idiot!" screamed Ares, "You corpse-breath worm!"

"Lord Ares, you are kind of talking about the kid of your wrong uncle." Lance said before making a run when suddenly two skeleton warriors rushed after him aided by two sets of silverware.

"Continue Bellerophon, everyone other just ignore my cousin." Misty said while everyone nodded slowly.

_**"Ah!" she screamed. "You idiot! You corpse-breath worm!"**_

"Again like father, like daughter."

_**She probably would've said worse, but I smacked her between the eyes with my sword-butt and sent her stumbling backward out of the creek.**_

_**Then I heard yelling, elated screams, and I saw Luke racing toward the boundary line with the red team's banner lifted high. He was flanked by a couple of Hermes guys covering his retreat, and a few Apollos behind them, fighting off the Hephaestus kids. The Ares folks got up, and Clarisse muttered a dazed curse.**_

_**"A trick!" she shouted. "It was a trick."**_

_**They staggered after Luke, but it was too late. Everybody converged on the creek as Luke ran across into friendly territory. Our side exploded into cheers. The red banner shimmered and turned to silver. The boar and spear were replaced with a huge caduceus, the symbol of cabin eleven.**_

There were some happy cheers from the winning team, but the legacies were frowning, they knew what was about to come.

_**Everybody on the blue team picked up Luke and started carrying him around on their shoulders. Chiron cantered out from the woods and blew the conch horn.**_

_**The game was over. We'd won.**_

_**I was about to join the celebration when Annabeth's voice, right next to me in the creek, said, "Not bad, hero."**_

_**I looked, but she wasn't there.**_

There were a few looks of confusion.

_**"Where the heck did you learn to fight like that?" she asked. The air shimmered, and she materialized, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off her head.**_

_**I felt myself getting angry. I wasn't even fazed by the face that she'd just been invisible.**_

_**"You set me up," I said. "You put me here because you knew Clarisse would come after me, while you sent Luke around the flank. You had it all figured out."**_

_**Annabeth shrugged. "I told you. Athena always always has a plan."**_

"A plan to get him pulverized?" Triton asked the daughter of his adopted daughter with a raised eyebrow, she didn't dare meeting his eyes.

_**"A plan to get me pulverized."**_

"Ugh…no one says a word." Triton groaned while some people tried not to snicker.

_**"I came as fast as I could. I was about to jump in, but . . ." she shrugged. "You didn't need help."**_

_**Then she noticed my wounded arm. "How did you do that?"**_

_**"Sword cut," I said. "What do you think?"**_

_**"No. It was a sword cut. Look at it!"**_

_**The blood was gone. Where the huge cut had been, there was a long white scratch, and even that was fading. As I watched, it turned into a small scar, and disappeared.**_

"That is so cool, I wish we had such instant heal powers." Dakota commented.

"It would certainly make it easier for us in the infirmary." Lee said sighing while both Perseus and Hercules glowered at they smug looking cousins.

_**"I-I don't get it," I said.**_

_**Annabeth was thinking hard. I could almost see the gears turning. She looked down at my feet, then at Clarisse's broken spear, and said, "Step out of the water, Percy."**_

_**"What-"**_

_**"Just do it."**_

_**I came out of the creek and immediately felt bone tired. My arms started to go numb again. My adrenaline rush left me. I almost fell over, but Annabeth steadied me.**_

"Not the best idea." Katie said to Annabeth who nodded.

"_**Oh Styx," she cursed. "This is not good. I didn't want . . . I assumed it would be Zeus . . ."**_

Zeus stared glowering again only because he had some affairs going on, sometimes more at the same time didn't mean that every kid belonged to him.

"Stop glowering you are always a plausible choice in the case of a demigod child and you had broken that oat as it seems twice, using both your forms." Hera told her husband who was acting like a little kid, now that she thought about it, Hercules had certainly inherited a good deal of his father's personality and the insult to name him Heracles was really to much.

_**Before I could ask what she meant, I heard that canine growl again, but much closer than before. A howl ripped through the forest.**_

Everyone tensed while Hades remembered something and looked at the legacies.

"Someone had summoned a hellhound." he said at which the children nodded while everybody else paled, this was certainly not a peculiar joke to do, they now understood why no one would summon after such an incident anything out of fun.

_**The campers' cheering died instantly. Chiron shouted something in Ancient Greek, which I would realize, only later, I had understood perfectly. **__**"Stand ready! My bow!"**_

_**Annabeth drew her sword.**_

Annabeth wanted to correct that it was a knife, but refrained herself from it, still feeling worried about the situation they were in.

_**There on the rocks just above us was a black hound the size of a rhino, with lava-red eyes and fangs like daggers.**_

_**It was looking straight at me. **_

Poseidon started hyperventilating and his kids looked no better, the fact that it was looking at Percy meant that whoever had summoned it had picked him as the target.

_**Nobody moved except Annabeth, who yelled. "Percy, run!"**_

_**She tried to step in front of me, but the hound was too fast. It leaped over her-an enormous shadow with teeth-and just as it hit me, as I stumbled backward and felt its razor-sharp claws ripping through my armor,**_

Poseidon whimpered and buried his head in his wife's dress.

_**there was a cascade of thwacking sounds, like forty pieces of paper being ripped one after the other. From the hound's neck sprouted a cluster of arrows. The monster fell dead at my feet.**_

Everyone let out a relieved sigh at this while Poseidon gave Chiron, Apollo and his three present children thankful smiles for saving his son.

_**By some miracle, I was still alive.**_

"A miracle that luckily still continues on." Misty said and when they are lucky then it will certainly continue on.

_**I didn't want to look underneath the ruins of my shredded armor. My chest felt warm and wet, and I knew I was badly cut.**_

_**Another second and the monster would've turned me into a hundred pounds of delicatessen meat.**_

_**Chiron trotted up next to us, a bow in his hand, his face grim.**_

_**"Di **__**immortales!"**__** Annabeth said. "That's a hellhound from the Fields of Punishment. They don't . . . they're not supposed to . . ."**_

_**"Someone summoned it," Chiron said. "Someone inside the camp."**_

Everyone frowned at this while the legacies exchanged bitter looks, they knew who had been the culprit.

_**Luke came over, the banner in his hand forgotten, his moment of glory gone.**_

"Oh, the irony of his arrival." Luke breathed; it was not easy to deal with the fact when you are named after a hero and a jerk at the same time.

_**Clarisse yelled, "It's all Percy's fault! Percy summoned it!"**_

Everyone turned to Clarisse with raised eyebrows.

"She was still dazed, frustrated and shocked." Ace defended his mother who gave him a small smile in thanks.

_**"Be quiet, child," Chiron told her.**_

_**We watched the body of the hellhound melt into shadow, soaking into the ground until it disappeared.**_

_**"You're wounded," Annabeth told me. "Quick, Percy, get in the water."**_

_**"I'm okay."**_

_**"No you're not," she said. "Chiron, watch this."**_

_**I was too tired to argue. I stepped back into the creek, the whole camp gathering around me.**_

_**Instantly, I felt better. I could feel the cuts on my chest closing up. Some of the campers gasped.**_

_**"Look, I-I don't know why, I said, trying to apologize."I'm sorry . . ."**_

_**But they weren't watching my wounds heal. They were staring at something above my head.**_

_**"Percy," Annabeth said, pointing. "Um . . ."**_

_**By the time I looked up, the sign was already fading, but I could still make out the hologram of green light, spinning and gleaming. A three-tipped spear: a trident.**_

_**"Your father," Annabeth murmured. "This is really not good."**_

"Why is me claiming my son no…oh the oath." Poseidon said now knowing why he waited so long to claim his son, but he probably had no other option after his powers started to become recogrinaizable.

Meanwhile was Annabeth biting back a sigh, so in the end is it really Percy who is the child of the prophecy, but she still didn't know how he is alive then except if there was more meaning to the prophecy then she had figured out.

_**"It's determined," Chiron announced.**_

_**All around me, campers started kneeling, even the Ares cabin, though they didn't look happy about it.**_

"This is standard when one gets claimed as a child of the Big Tree, by the others is the kneeling optional." Chiron explained to the Romans who nodded.

_**"My father?" I asked, completely bewildered.**_

_**"Poseidon," said Chiron. "Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Father of Horses, Hail, Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God."**_

"That on the other hand is always the same you only switch the name and titles depending on who the godly parent is." Henry said as a tired Lance fell on they mat beside Misty, panting hard.

"This was the end of the chapter." Bellerophon said as he pushed the book over to Orpheus.

"Ok, could now someone please let my son down again?" Hermes asked while gesturing to Connor who was still tied up by the wine pants.

"Fine." Pollux said snapping his fingers and the son of Hermes crashed to the ground with a yelp as he glared at the sons of the Wine God who on the other hand looked back at him smugly.

"Orpheus, start reading, if there are no more longer pauses we may finish two more chapters after this then we will have dinner and go to bed." Hera said while everyone nodded in agreement with the plan.

_To be continued…_


	10. I kind of like that you live

A/N: just noticed that I unconsciously did the reading of the heroes of old so that a child of Apollo would get the chapter in which the Oracle appears.

* * *

X. I kind of like that you live

Orpheus threw a last glance at his father to make sure that he was really fine then looked down at the chapter which was next.

_**I Am Offered a Quest**_

Even thought she knew that it was coming looked Annabeth excited about the fact that she could finally prove herself on a quest.

_**The next morning, Chiron moved me to cabin three.**_

_**I didn't have to share with anybody. I had plenty of room for all my stuff: the Minotaur's horn, one set of spare clothes, and a toiletry bag. I got to sit at my own dinner table, pick all my own activities, call "lights out" whenever I felt like it, and not listen to anybody else.**_

"That sounds so great." Connor said, the idea of a cabin of his own really excited him.

"It is not always fun." Reyna said as she remembered how alone she would fell in her villa if it weren't for her two faithful dogs; she hoped that they were also taken care about.

"Agreed, it can get lonely if you are alone in a cabin." Luke said even thought his grandfather had told his dad last month that he might soon have also demigod siblings so he guessed that he would stay alone in Cabin Three in some time.

_**And I was absolutely miserable.**_

"See." come it from everyone who either had a cabin or villa of they own in they respective camps.

_**Just when I'd started to feel accepted, to feel I had a home in cabin eleven and I might be a normal kid—or as normal as you can be when you're a half-blood—I'd been separated out as if I had some rare disease.**_

"After a while one tends to ignore it." Hades said while keeping his arms securely around his wife who tried not to glare at those words, her husband was a nice person; he only showed it rarely because he didn't wish to be hurt.

"There is a saying that it is lonely on the top, I think." Henry said not sure, but he didn't care. "Basically, the more power you have the lonelier you are, mostly if you are a bad judge of character and can't separate those who are with you for they own gain and those to whom you really matter."

"That is true child, the wish for power and influence that they can do anything they wish is sadly a dangerous fatal flaw which can be easily manipulated." Chiron said before looking apologetically at the gods, but seeing that a great number of the council nodded he continued. "It is one of the most commonly inherited flaw of all children of Zeus." he finished while Jay, Perseus and Hercules looked over at they father, but he stared with an annoyed expression at the ceiling wile they half-brothers and sisters hung they heads, both gestures confirming the words of the old teacher.

"Also agreed, this is kind of why Ry here is my co-praetor, if I get to overconfident on a power rush brings he me crashing to earth, unfortunately sometimes also literally." he said with a small glare at his partner.

"Well, you were kind of under the trance from those emposai and didn't exactly listen to me so I needed to use drastic measures before you would do a permanent visit by us." Henry said while gesturing to both Enysswe and himself.

"By the way, how come they didn't enchant you?" Octavian asked surprising everyone that he sounded merely curious and nothing else, but they also wanted to know emposai could easily enchant men. Not that his helped to much the future parents of one of the two praetors.

"Easy, we stood over and old coal mine and there in the collapsed regions the walls gave free a number of crystals, when the emposai started they little enchantment I willed the crystals to start resonating as loud as possible so the sound blocked out the charm. The only problem with that trick is that it only is useful to my mom and me, so even if Nath would have been closer to me I could have not helped him with the resonation." Henry said with a small frown.

"Wow, that sounds actually like a neat trick even if it only helps you." Michael said, those powers kind of sounded neat even if he had used jewels. He knew how well sound waves could work; he loved using sonic arrows in a fight.

"I also find it interesting; personally I have never read about any child of Lord Hades having these powers." Annabeth said in a curious tone.

"It is the rarer aspect of grandfather's inheritable powers, riches. After my knowledge are me and mom the only ones who inherited this theme the others all got the death aspect." Henry finished with his explanation indicating with his hands that they should return to the book.

_**Nobody mentioned the hellhound, but I got the feeling they were all talking about it behind my back.**_

_**The attack had scared everybody. It sent two messages: one; that I was the son of the Sea God; and two, monsters would stop at nothing to kill me. They could even invade a camp that had always been considered safe.**_

"Poor guy, but it is still better then if he would have been in our camp." Frank said a little sheepishly as he looked carefully at the gods.

"What do you mean?" Poseidon inquired at which Hades let out a small chuckle. "Brother?" the Sea God asked suspiciously, did his older brother know something?

"I'm sorry, I just remembered a part of our little conversation by lunch and it turns out brother that in the eyes of the Romans, were the both of us seen as ill omens." Hades finished at which Poseidon looked with wide eyes first at his brother then at the squirming demigods before breaking out in a good natured and hearty laugh.

"Why do I see our little brother throwing the largest party in the history of Olymphos when the Romans decided that the both of us are to be feared?" Poseidon asked with mirth as he continued laughing while his brother chuckled.

"I will be stunned if he doesn't arrange some clouds to boast about how he is better then us." The Lord of the Dead said while all around them the others started breaking out laughing, well except Zeus who glared at both of his older sibling.

"Orpheus continue." Zeus growled while continuing to glare while the Romans relaxed and Reyna gave a new point to her list.

_**The other campers steered clear of me as much as possible. **_

_**Cabin eleven was too nervous to have sword class with me after what I'd done to the Ares folks in the woods, so my lessons with Luke became one-on-one. He pushed me harder than ever, and wasn't afraid to bruise me up in the process.**_

"Yeah, he is getting a feel about how it feels fighting you." Luke grumbled as Sally patted him on the back.

_**"You're going to need all the training you can get," he promised, as we were working with swords and flaming torches. "Now let's try that viper-beheading strike again. Fifty more repetitions."**_

"That is strange" Clarisse suddenly spoke up, frowning.

"What do you mean?" Silena asked before anyone else had the chance to do so.

"This is kind of too much, I know that he is a Big Three kid and we all start training hard right after arriving, but the work description of the other days was noting compared to this. Beside that, doing the viper-beheading strike like twenty times puts already a strain on your arm, mostly if the sword you use is not balanced enough. I hade dragged enough of my siblings to the infirmary because they ended up spraining they wrists as they overdid it." at this Lee nodded in confirmation, it happened enough times during his shifts "Beside that is he even making it harder with adding the flaming torches seeing that he is the son of the Sea God." she finished explaining being an expert in the case of weapons and fighting styles, something you get as the kid of a war god.

"I need to agree with Clarisse, even if he is great with a sword that is too much for a person who was only learning how to use that type of weapon." Reyna agreed as her hand started unconsciously playing with Jay's hair, Aphrodite and her children had a hard time to not gush over how cute that was, while also Malcolm nodded, his sister was still in a type of denial.

_**Annabeth still taught me Greek in the mornings, but she seemed distracted. Every time I said something, she scowled at me, as if I'd just poked her between the eyes.**_

_**After lessons, she would walk away muttering to herself: "Quest ... Poseidon? ... Dirty rotten ... Got to make a plan …"**_

"Ugh…can I get a worse staring impression on him then I do in those few days he is there?" Annabeth asked in frustration, under normal circumates would it not interest her, but seeing how not far behind her two teens sat who were apparently her children with the guy she is doing these bad impressions on. Well in such cases you kind of don't want a relationship to start like this.

_**Even Clarisse kept her distance, though her venomous looks made it clear she wanted to kill me for breaking her magic spear. I wished she would just yell or punch me or something. I'd rather get into fights every day than be ignored.**_

"And that idiot didn't think about just asking me? I would have probably loved to comply with his wish after that episode by the creek." Clarisse said groaning, this guy was truly frustrating and she would be meeting him only in one and a half year. The others couldn't help themselves the two comments put together were kind of funny.

_**I knew somebody at camp resented me,**_

The Greek demigods frowned at this, sure there were the occasional fights, they all had inherited they parents quick temper, but they didn't resent each other.

_**because one night I came into my cabin and found a mortal newspaper dropped inside the doorway, a copy of the **__**New York Daily News, **__**opened to the Metro page.**_

"How did that get in there?" Katie asked suspiciously, they didn't get mortal newspapers at camp.

"Somebody must have snuck out and brought it in, the fact that it was placed in front of Percy's cabin and opened at a certain page…" Malcolm said, but trailed of when the sound of growls hit his ears. Turning around they all saw the Jackson siblings looking ready to attack someone while Lance was holding onto Luke and Misty onto Sally.

"Orpheus continue reading and Lord Poseidon, for the love of goodness control your tempter for the upcoming article and no one should interrupt. The mortals down below should really be spared from nature catastrophes at least a bit." Misty said as she gestured to Orpheus who nodded and tried to get as fast through the article as he could.

_**The article took me almost an hour to read, because the angrier I got, the more the words floated around on the page.**_

Everybody frowned at this, but didn't comment a word.

_**BOY AND MOTHER STILL MISSING AFTER**_ _**FREAK CAR ACCIDENT**_

_**BY EILEEN SMYTHE**_

_**Sally Jackson and son Percy are still missing one week after their mysterious disappearance. The family's badly burned '78 Camaro was discovered last Saturday on a north Long Island road with the roof ripped off and the front axle broken.**_

_**The car had flipped and skidded for several hundred feet before exploding.**_

_**Mother and son had gone for a weekend vacation to Montauk, but left hastily, under mysterious circumstances. Small traces of blood were found in the car and near the scene of the wreck, but there were no other signs of the missing Jacksons. Residents in the rural area reported seeing nothing unusual around the time of the accident.**_

_**Ms. Jackson's husband, Gabe Ugliano, claims that his stepson, Percy Jackson, is a troubled child who has been kicked out of numerous boarding schools and has expressed violent tendencies in the past.**_

_**Police would not say whether son Percy is a suspect in his mother's disappearance, but they have not ruled out foul play. Below are recent pictures of Sally Jackson and Percy. Police urge anyone with information to call the following toll-free crime-stoppers hotline.**_

Everyone's knuckles started turning white as they balled they hands into fists, the gods looked even somewhat flustered as they were trying to keep they powers in check, but it was easier said then done. The demigods were muttering curses in ancient Greek, Latin, English and French for the Aphrodite/Venus kids also together with they other native languages. They all would have really loved to comment aloud, but refrained from doing so, now understanding why the siblings looked furious and why Misty wanted them to not interrupt.

_**The phone number was circled in black marker.**_

"That **aliboron, he even delibetery circled in the number for Percy to see." Mitchell sheeted and Malcolm needed to agree with him, someone was really not liking Percy and the comments Luke dropped, his reactions were a…he suddenly tensed could it be? He carefully looked over at his sister; he knew how much that will hurt her, the touch of a finger on his hand made him turn slightly to the other side to Mitchell who was looking at him while his finger traced the skin on the back of his hand. He wanted to pull away, but then his brain finally registered that the patterns were not random, but actually words, he tried concentrating on the finger dancing gracefully over his skin. ****_"We need to talk tonight, it is important." _****it had read, a simple message, but it could be converted without making others suspicious, he would have never thought that an Aphrodite kid could come up with such a thing. **

_**I wadded up the paper and threw it away, then flopped down in my bunk bed in the middle of my empty cabin.**_

_**"Lights out," I told myself miserably.**_

_**That night, I had my worst dream yet.**_

"Good catching the keyword 'yet' dad." Sally said while everyone groaned, this was not what they wanted to hear.

_**I was running along the beach in a storm. This time, there was a city behind me. Not New York. The sprawl was different: buildings spread farther apart, palm trees and low hills in the distance.**_

The demigods looked thoughtful, trying to figure out where it was while both Enysswe and Henry tried not to let any emotion show on they faces, they will need to keep themselves in check during this chapter.

_**About a hundred yards down the surf, two men were fighting. They looked like TV wrestlers, muscular, with beards and long hair. Both wore flowing Greek tunics, one trimmed in blue, the other in green.**_

Everyone was looking at the two brothers who did they best to avoid looking at the family, but it bothered them that they were now for the second time present in a demigod dream, it was never good if they didn't go there to give a dream message.

_**They grappled with each other, wrestled, kicked and head-butted, and every time they connected, lightning flashed, the sky grew darker, and the wind rose.**_

The other gods groaned while Hades tried not to think about how much work he will have thanks to his brothers.

_**I had to stop them. I didn't know why. But the harder I ran, the more the wind blew me back, until I was running in place, my heels digging uselessly in the sand.**_

_**Over the roar of the storm, I could hear the blue-robed one yelling at the green-robed one, **__**Give it back! Give it back! **__**Like a kindergartner fighting over a toy.**_

"I don't know what a kindergartener is, but something tells me that the comparison is accurate." Demeter said as the others chuckled at Zeus's expenses who remembered that if he attacks would not only his present family attack back, but he would have broken his oath on the River Styx which would not be without pain.

_**The waves got bigger, crashing into the beach, spraying me with salt.**_

_**I yelled, **__**Stop it! Stop fighting!**_

"Dad, when you get into one of your ' part of a Big Three kid fight' one needs to either set you guys into panic to stop like in the third book, knock somehow out or have a good deal of people, if we are lucky preferably gods, your dads the most, to restrain you." Mich said while the gods looked over at them with the demigods who all had wide eyes, they needed sometimes to be restrained by gods? Jay meanwhile looked embarrassed at the thought, but kind of pleased that he will be pretty strong in the future.

"I thought you hinted since the start of the books that Percy gets along with his cousins alright?" Apollo asked in a stunned tone.

"He does, the problem is that sometimes he and his cousins are too much alike in they manner and that this can lead to some fights, but when it ends they are back in a few minutes to the way they were before the argument. I think the comment aunt Annabeth makes in the second book will explain it better to you." Misty said before waving her hand.

_**The ground shook. Laughter came from somewhere under the earth, and a voice so deep and evil it turned my blood to ice**__**.**_

The air started turning tense again, no one was sure what to think it was to far in the future and they were not sure if something with them changed in the case of personality, but then there was the mention by Enysswe that the voice Percy heard in his dream was much darker then her grandfather and the fact with the slowing down time.

_**Come down, little hero, **__**the voice crooned. **__**Come down!**_

Everybody shudder at this, even thought the words were read it had sent a cold shiver down they backs.

_**The sand split beneath me, opening up a crevice straight down to the center of the earth. My feet slipped, and darkness swallowed me.**_

_**I woke up, sure I was falling.**_

_**I was still in bed in cabin three. My body told me it was morning, but it was dark outside, and thunder rolled across the hills. A storm was brewing. I hadn't dreamed that.**_

_**I heard a clopping sound at the door, a hoof knocking on the threshold.**_

_**"Come in?"**_

_**Grover trotted inside, looking worried. "Mr. D wants to see you."**_

_**"Why?"**_

_**"He wants to kill... I mean, I'd better let him tell you."**_

"Really smooth way to tell him Grover." Chris snickered.

_**Nervously, I got dressed and followed, sure that I was in huge trouble.**_

_**For days, I'd been half expecting a summons to the Big House. Now that I was declared a son of Poseidon, one of the Big Three gods who weren't supposed to have kids, I figured it was a crime for me just to be alive.**_

"Technically because of the circumantes why the oath was made is your existence a crime, but in the end it will be a good thing. There are many opposites separated by a thin line which is to easy to cross or when you try looking at things from the other side." Enysswe said with a small smile, she had been hanging around to many dead philosophers as of late it seems or she spent too much time chatting with her uncle William whenever he was not judging souls.

_**The other gods had probably been debating the best way to punish me for existing, and now Mr. D was ready to deliver their verdict.**_

"Nah, only start fretting when you see me sitting with D, I'm the usual messenger for these things, well beside for uncle Hades, he has his three assistants for that from which you have angered one already." Hermes said in amusement.

_**Over Long Island Sound, the sky looked like ink soup coming to a boil.**_

"This boy has truly interesting comparisons." Orpheus said interrupting himself before staring to read again as some people snickered at the sentence.

_**A hazy curtain of rain was coming in our direction. I asked Grover if we needed an umbrella.**_

_**"No," he said. "It never rains here unless we want it to."**_

"Really?" the Romans asked.

"Yes, we only have rain if we wish to water the fields and plants in the valley, but in any other case have we always sunny weather." Katie explained to the Romans as Reyna put a new punkt on her list while the heroes of old looked over to they stunned parents, even if they aren't there in presence they really did have more interaction with they children in the future. It kind of made them envious.

_**I pointed at the storm. "What the heck is that, then?"**_

_**He glanced uneasily at the sky. "It'll pass around us. Bad weather always does."**_

The Greeks nodded while the Romans hoped that they will also get a weather control over they camp, fight training in rain is not fun with the high chance for injuries.

_**I realized he was right. In the week I'd been here, it had never even been overcast. The few rain clouds I'd seen had skirted right around the edges of the valley.**_

_**But this storm ... this one was huge.**_

Everyone looked at Zeus, who just shrugged.

_**At the volleyball pit, the kids from Apollo's cabin were playing a morning game against the satyrs. **_

"We always do, they are a fun competition." Michael said shrugging.

"No more satyrs on the streets who do nothing." Reyna said to her fellow legionaries, she would have liked what they ancestors were doing with ignoring the potential of satyrs unlike the Greeks. Who knows where they camp and the city would be now if they did.

_**Dionysus's twins were walking around in the strawberry fields, making the plants grow.**_

"Forget about those bushes." Octavian hissed at Trickster who looked again thoughtful.

"You know it is kind of strange to be defended by Octavian." Dakota whispered to Gwen who looked back at him with a small smile on her lips.

"I find it cute." she told the now baffled boy.

"I think your Venus side is betting more prominent in the presence of your mom and siblings." he replied back to her, he didn't see anything cute about the situation, if nothing other he wanted Octavian checked by Lord Apollo and his uncles to see if something was wrong with him, or it could be the work of the Fates.

_**Everybody was going about their normal business, but they looked tense. They kept their eyes on the storm.**_

This made the demigods exchange nervous glances, that didn't sound good.

_**Grover and I walked up to the front porch of the Big House. Dionysus sat at the pinochle table in his tiger-striped Hawaiian shirt with his Diet Coke, just as he had on my first day. Chiron sat across the table in his fake wheel chair. They were playing against invisible opponents-two sets of cards hovering in the air.**_

"See, I'm not there so no death sentence." Hermes said while Poseidon let out a relieved sigh.

_**"Well, well," Mr. D said without looking up. "Our little celebrity."**_

_**I waited.**_

_**"Come closer," Mr. D said. "And don't expect me to bow to you, mortal, just because old Barnacle-Beard is your father."**_

"Could you not use the annoying nickname Owl Head had given me?" Poseidon asked in an annoyed tone as he looked over at his nephew who gave him a sheepish smile while Athena beamed at her brother.

_**A net of lightning flashed across the clouds. Thunder shook the windows of the house.**_

_**"Blah, blah, blah," Dionysus said.**_

Poseidon continued to glare at his nephew while Athena giggled, the others were having a hard time to not follow her lied.

_**"If I had my way," Dionysus said, "I would cause your molecules to erupt in flames. We'd sweep up the ashes and be done with a lot of trouble. But Chiron seems to feel this would be against my mission at this cursed camp: to keep you little brats safe from harm."**_

All the gods refrained themselves from glaring at Dionysus because of what they had found out some chapters ago, they didn't want to find out if his mood is partly to be contributed to the restriction of his properties.

_**"Spontaneous combustion **__**is **__**a form of harm, Mr. D," Chiron put in.**_

"Well there is spontaneous self combustion also." Mich said while everyone stared at him strangely well except the legacies.

"Don't worry, when you finally read about his dad will you not be stunned by anything he says." Misty said giggling, uncle Leo was certainly a funny and strange guy, but that seemed to run in his family.

_**"Nonsense," Dionysus said. "Boy wouldn't feel a thing. Nevertheless, I've agreed to restrain myself. I'm thinking of turning you into a dolphin instead, sending you back to your father."**_

"Looking at the titles of these books and if my son would not contribute so much to our safety I think I would highly prefer that plan." Poseidon admitted, at least then he would his future self not need to worry about his son getting hurt.

_**"Mr. D—" Chiron warned.**_

_**"Oh, all right," Dionysus relented. "There's one more option. But it's deadly foolishness." Dionysus rose, and the invisible players' cards dropped to the table. "I'm off to Olympus for the emergency meeting. **_

Everyone looked nervous, those meetings were never good and were bound to real problems unlike they two annual meetings.

_**If the boy is still here when I get back, I'll turn him into an Atlantic bottlenose. Do you understand? And Perseus Jackson, if you're at all smart, you'll see that's a much more sensible choice than what Chiron feels you must do."**_

"Wow, did you notice that Mr. D used Percy's name correct?" Travis asked hoping to divert the tense atmosphere somewhat, but he was ignored by everyone except the legacies who gave him shrugs.

_**Dionysus picked up a playing card, twisted it, and it became a plastic rectangle. A credit card? No. A security pass.**_

_**He snapped his fingers.**_

_**The air seemed to fold and bend around him. He became a hologram, then a wind, then he was gone, leaving only the smell of fresh-pressed grapes lingering behind.**_

_**Chiron smiled at me, but he looked tired and strained. "Sit, Percy, please. And Grover."**_

_**We did.**_

_**Chiron laid his cards on the table, a winning hand he hadn't gotten to use.**_

_**"Tell me, Percy," he said. "What did you make of the hellhound?"**_

_**Just hearing the name made me shudder.**_

_**Chiron probably wanted me to say, **__**Heck, it was nothing. I eat hellhounds for breakfast.**_

_**But I didn't feel like lying.**_

There were many nods of approval at this, lies could be dangerous and hurtful when the truth comes out.

_**"It scared me," I said. "If you hadn't shot it, I'd be dead."**_

_**"You'll meet worse, Percy. Far worse, before you're done."**_

Cue groans.

"And that is one big understatement, by the current stand of things had uncle Percy managed to get the most part of the Greco-Roman mythological world to want to crush him and nearly all monsters had already fought against him, some more then once and know him by name." Henry said while shaking his head.

"Don't tell me, mom is already joking that anytime now and dad will be getting birthday cards from the monsters he had fought." Sally said with a giggle when there was suddenly a loud splash, turning around noted everyone the large puddle on Poseidon's now empty throne.

'Just ignore him, he will reform when he manages to calm down." Amphitrite said while looking down at the puddle which she had married.

"So this is normal?" Fredric asked carefully.

"Yes, we all tend to change into something bound to our element if we get to nervous about something." Hera added in remembering the annoying two days when her husband was a floating ball of lightning, she needed to use a fan to get him into a guest room because he shocked her whenever she got close as ten feet to him.

_**"Done ... with what?"**_

_**"Your quest, of course. Will you accept it?"**_

_**I glanced at Grover, who was crossing his fingers.**_

No matter the seriousness of the situation some snorted at the image.

_**"Um, sir," I said, "you haven't told me what it is yet."**_

_**Chiron grimaced. "Well, that's the hard part, the details."**_

_**Thunder rumbled across the valley. The storm clouds had now reached the edge of the beach. As far as I could see, the sky and the sea were boiling together.**_

The tension was back as the gods both in and outside exchanged nervous glances, they all could feel the dark foreshadowing hidden in that sentence, there would be war if nothing happens.

_**"Poseidon and Zeus," I said. "They're fighting over something valuable ... something that was stolen, aren't they?"**_

"The Lightning Thief…" Athena gasped as she suddenly remembered the title of the book, how could she have missed it.

"Somebody stole my Master Bolt!" Zeus thundered as he jumped up from his throne, but Hera grabbed his arm and dragged him back to his seat.

"Sit back down you big kid, this was exactly what the Fates were talking about, looking at the number of books we have here seems it that you will get your beloved toy back and then you can marry it." said the Queen of Heavens to her spluttering husband while all around them everyone except the puddle and a still annoyed Mrs. Chase broke everyone out laughing.

"G…great one stepmother…" Apollo and Hermes said together while trying to not fall from they thrones, again.

"Ne…never knew that Lady Juno had such a humour…" Trickster said, he will need to make a mental note to bring some of the goddess flowers to her temple when they get back home, a goddess with such great humour directed towards Jupiter needed to be honoured.

_**Chiron and Grover exchanged looks.**_

_**Chiron sat forward in his wheelchair. "How did you know that?"**_

_**My face felt hot. I wished I hadn't opened my big mouth.**_

"That will be a returning theme." Ace said still snickering from what Hera had said.

_**"The weather since Christmas has been weird, like the sea and the sky are fighting. Then I talked to Annabeth, and she'd overheard something about a theft.**_

_**And ... I've also been having these dreams."**_

"Hate those." all demigods said.

_**"I knew it," Grover said.**_

_**"Hush, satyr," Chiron ordered.**_

_**"But it is his quest!" Grover's eyes were bright with excitement. "It must be!"**_

_**"Only the Oracle can determine." **_

Cue shudders from the Greek demigods which made Apollo frown and the Romans lean a bit further in the books direction.

_**Chiron stroked his bristly beard. "Nevertheless, Percy, you are correct. Your father and Zeus are having their worst quarrel in centuries. They are fighting over something valuable that was stolen. To be precise: a lightning bolt."**_

Zeus looked furious, but was doing his best to keep his powers in check.

_**I laughed nervously. "A **__**what**__**?"**_

"My Master Bolt is not a laughing matter boy." Zeus growled while his sons nodded in understanding with they father.

_**"Do not take this lightly," Chiron warned. "I'm not talking about some tinfoil-covered zigzag you'd see in a second-grade play. I'm talking about a two-foot-long cylinder of high-grade celestial bronze, capped on both ends with god-level explosives."**_

Some of the demigods were gapping about how dangerous that thing was and just how wrong mortals got that thing on the statues then Annabeth and Malcolm gasped.

"The Bolt will be stolen soon, we are one and a half year from the time before Percy arrives at camp so in other words by the next Winter Solicit." Annabeth said and the children looked together carefully, things were not sounding good.

"Then you know what to do Chiron, if we find out who the thief is you need a plan to catch that person." Athena instructed not noticing how her son looked over at the brunette beside him, both looking nervous.

_**"Oh."**_

"That is the only thing he can say?" Bellerophon asked in shock.

"Kind of yes." Misty replied with a shrug.

_**"Zeus's master bolt," Chiron said, getting worked up now. "The symbol of his power, from which all other lightning bolts are patterned. The first weapon made by the Cyclopes for the war against the Titans, the bolt that sheered the top off Mount Etna and hurled Kronos from his throne; the master bolt, which packs enough power to make mortal hydrogen bombs look like firecrackers."**_

All those who knew what that was shuddered and the Chases looked suddenly with fear at Zeus who looked confused.

"Are those things really that bad?" Artemis asked not liking that the mortals may make something as dangerous that it is somewhat close to her father's powers. Beside her Apollo let out a gasp, looking pale.

"I would say yes, they are a bad thing." he said with a shudder after the vision disappeared.

_**"And it's missing?"**_

_**"Stolen," Chiron said.**_

_**"By who?"**_

_**"By **__**whom**__**," Chiron corrected.**_

_**Once a teacher, always a teacher.**_

The demigods and legacies were nodding with bright smiles on they lips while Chiron blushed in embarrassment.

_**"By you."**_

_**My mouth fell open.**_

"I can understand his reaction, he had no clue what he was or even how the Master Bolt looked so is it highly unlikely that he had stolen it." Perseus said, it also helped that they were reading Percy's thoughts and even if not something told him that this young hero would never intentionally do something which hurt others.

"Agreed." chorused the others.

_**"At least"—Chiron held up a hand—"that's what Zeus thinks. During the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, Zeus and Poseidon had an argument.**_

"When do they not?" asked the rest of the council and the divinities outside in exasperation.

_**The usual nonsense: 'Mother Rhea always liked you best,' 'Air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters,' etcetera.**_

The Greek demigods and legacies nodded they heads while the heroes of the past and the Roman demigods stared gapping at this information, this was the argument between two mayor gods?

"And as grandfather likes to put it _'Neither air nor sea disasters are spectacular, the only thing they do is make more work in the Underworld'_ with which I perfectly agree." Enysswe said in a stern tone while Hades glared at his little brother and the puddle.

"Son nice to know that my argument gets still ignored." Hades said testily while Zeus avoided his gaze.

"Okey, I agree how Chiron called those arguments." Jay whispered to his friends, his dad was really starting to sound like a little kid.

_**Afterward, Zeus realized his master bolt was missing, taken from the throne room under his very nose. He immediately blamed Poseidon.**_

"Nothing new, since the Titans got defeated are his usual suspects his brothers." Hades said with a shrug.

_**Now, a god cannot usurp another god's symbol of power directly—that is forbidden by the most ancient of divine laws. But Zeus believes your father convinced a human hero to take it."**_

_**"But I didn't—"**_

_**"Patience and listen, child," Chiron said. "Zeus has good reason to be suspicious. The forges of the Cyclopes are under the ocean, which gives Poseidon some influence over the makers of his brother's lightning. Zeus believes Poseidon has taken the master bolt, and is now secretly having the Cyclopes build an arsenal of illegal copies, which might be used to topple Zeus from his throne.**_

"Which is only silly Zeus, Poseidon certainly loves ruling over his domain." Hera said huffing while Amphitrite, Triton and the Jackson siblings nodded.

"Mostly after he finished making that huge game room with all types of games which were made in the last three thousand years counted back from our time." Luke said brightening up at the memory of his granddad's game room.

"That sound sooo cool." come it from all sons of Hermes.

"All type of games?" Annabeth inquired.

"Yep, last time we visited there you spent like two hours on one of the logic videogames." Sally told her mom who blushed.

"That room sounds really great." Hermes said to Apollo who nodded wondering if they uncle would let them visit.

_**The only thing Zeus wasn't sure about was which hero Poseidon used to steal the bolt. Now Poseidon has openly claimed you as his son. You were in New York over the winter holidays. You could easily have snuck into Olympus. Zeus believes he has found his thief."**_

"And how did he get past dad's automaton, he is the only one who can give you the passing card to get to Olymphos and he doesn't even know on which floor it is." Beckendorf asked in confusion while the other demigods nodded.

"I hope that you will not say that your son made a faulty guard for the entrance." Hera hissed at her husband while Hephaestus smiled, it was nice to see his mother defending him.

"O…of course not dearest." Zeus mumbled while some snickered or whispered 'burned' under they breaths.

_**"But I've never even been to Olympus! Zeus is crazy!"**_

Thunder sounded outside

"I'm not crazy, that is Hades." Zeus said turning away from Hera while he got glared at by his brother, daughter, son and the Underworld cousins.

"Oh, please father drop that common theme you and mother tend to share at least is he not into acting all dramatic as you." Persephone snapped from her husband's lap while he stared back at her in shock.

"And we know whose fault it is that she turned out like this." Demeter hissed to Zeus her anger returning.

_**Chiron and Grover glanced nervously at the sky. The clouds didn't seem to be parting around us, as Grover had promised. They were rolling straight over our valley, sealing us in like a coffin lid.**_

The legacies shuddered at this.

"Way to foreshadow things uncle Percy." Henry said which made the others pale, but they knew that asking was futile.

_**"Er, Percy ...?" Grover said. "We don't use the **__**c**__**-word to describe the Lord of the Sky."**_

"Childish." both Hera and Demeter huffed.

_**"Perhaps **__**paranoid," **__**Chiron suggested.**_

There were some snickers at that while Chiron raised his hands in surrender as Zeus looked at him.

_**"Then again, Poseidon has tried to unseat Zeus before.**_

"WHAT!" Zeus roared while the others from the past looked shocked.

"It was not out of that reason, let Orpheus read." Enysswe said standing up while the demigods looked together, they were really far back in the past.

_**I believe that was question thirty-eight on your final exam..." He looked at me as if he actually expected me to remember question thirty-eight.**_

"Which he does." Sally said smiling.

_**How could anyone accuse me of stealing a god's weapon? I couldn't even steal a slice of pizza from Gabe's poker party without getting busted. Chiron was waiting for an answer. **_

_**"Something about a golden net?" I guessed. "Poseidon and Hera and a few other gods ... they, like, trapped Zeus and wouldn't let him out until he promised to be a better ruler, right?"**_

"See, I told you that there was a ground for that." En said nodding as the atmosphere started to relax.

"I can see why we would do that, but unfortunately it didn't seem to work as planned only in part." Hera said, ignoring her spluttering husband while both Aphrodite and Ares shuddered at they own encounter with such a net.

_**"Correct," Chiron said. "And Zeus has never trusted Poseidon since.**_

"Which is childish brother, they did this to get you to listen to them that you can be a better ruler to everyone." Hestia said in a disappointed tone.

"Agreed." the other gods said.

_**Of course, Poseidon denies stealing the master bolt. He took great offense at the accusation. The two have been arguing back and forth for months, threatening war. And now, you've come along—the proverbial last straw."**_

_**"But I'm just a kid!"**_

"Your point?" the Chases shifted at this in they seats.

_**"Percy," Grover cut in, "if you were Zeus, and you already thought your brother was plotting to overthrow you, then your brother suddenly admitted he had broken the sacred oath he took after World War II, that he's fathered a new mortal hero who might be used as a weapon against you... Wouldn't that put a twist in your toga?"**_

Everyone but Zeus chuckled at that, he only glowered at all of them.

_**"But I didn't do anything. Poseidon—my dad—he didn't really have this master bolt stolen, did he?"**_

_**Chiron sighed. "Most thinking observers would agree that thievery is not Poseidon's style. **_

There were many nods at this, even Athena needed to agree that this didn't sound like her rival and uncle.

_**But the Sea God is too proud to try convincing Zeus of that. Zeus has demanded that Poseidon return the bolt by the summer solstice. That's June twenty-first, ten days from now. Poseidon wants an apology for being called a thief by the same date.**_

Cue groans.

_**I hoped that diplomacy might prevail, that Hera or Demeter or Hestia would make the two brothers see sense**_

Everyone looked sympatically at the three sisters who were shaking they heads at they brothers.

_**But your arrival has inflamed Zeus's temper. Now neither god will back down. Unless someone intervenes, unless the master bolt is found and returned to Zeus before the solstice, there will be war. And do you know what a full-fledged war would look like, Percy?"**_

_**"Bad?" I guessed.**_

"That is mildly putting it." Hephaestus grumbled.

_**"Imagine the world in chaos. Nature at war with itself. Olympians forced to choose sides between Zeus and Poseidon. Destruction. Carnage. Millions dead. Western civilization turned into a battleground so big it will make the Trojan War look like a water-balloon fight."**_

"Water-balloon fights are fun." Travis made a new attempt to lighten the mood, but was again ignored.

_**"Bad," I repeated.**_

_**"And you, Percy Jackson, would be the first to feel Zeus's wrath."**_

_**It started to rain. Volleyball players stopped their game and stared in stunned silence at the sky.**_

_**I **__**had brought this storm to Half-Blood Hill. Zeus was punishing the whole camp because of me. I was furious.**_

"Not good." Sally said.

"What do you mean?" Silena asked trying not to think about the sudden rain which will come when they cabin is out sunbathing.

"When dad is angry his powers get stronger and well, destructive if in battle, but you will understand why it is better for all if they don't anger him more then by the Minotaur." Sally finished while some exchanged uneasy or confused gazes.

_**"So I have to find the stupid bolt," I said. "And return it to Zeus."**_

_**"What better peace offering," Chiron said, "than to have the son of Poseidon return Zeus's property?"**_

_**"If Poseidon doesn't have it, where is the thing?"**_

_**"I believe I know." Chiron's expression was grim. "Part of a prophecy I had years ago ... well, some of the lines make sense to me, now. But before I can say more, you must officially take up the quest. You must seek the counsel of the Oracle."**_

_**"Why can't you tell me where the bolt is beforehand?"**_

_**"Because if I did, you would be too afraid to accept the challenge."**_

_**I swallowed. "Good reason."**_

_**"You agree then?"**_

_**I looked at Grover, who nodded encouragingly.**_

_**Easy for him. I was the one Zeus wanted to kill.**_

"Only one now on a pretty long list of names." sang the legacies and the puddle started gurgling for a few seconds before it become still again.

"I think he fainted." Triton whispered to his mother in shock while she nodded in agreement.

_**"All right," I said. "It's better than being turned into a dolphin."**_

_**"Then it's time you consulted the Oracle," Chiron said. "Go upstairs, Percy Jackson, to the attic. When you come back down, assuming you're still sane, we will talk more."**_

"Huh?" Apollo asked in confusion while the Romans looked curious.

_**Four flights up, the stairs ended under a green trap door.**_

_**I pulled the cord. The door swung down, and a wooden ladder clattered into place.**_

_**The warm air from above smelled like mildew and rotten wood and something else ... a smell I remembered from biology class. Reptiles. The smell of snakes.**_

Cue shudders from the demigods.

_**I held my breath and climbed.**_

_**The attic was filled with Greek hero junk: armor stands covered in cobwebs; once-bright shields pitted with rust; old leather steamer trunks plastered with stickers saying ITHAKA, CIRCE'S ISLE, and LAND OF THE AMAZONS.**_

Odysseus perked up at hearing those names as did Bellerophon by the last one.

_**One long table was stacked with glass jars filled with pickled **__**things**__—__**severed hairy claws, huge yellow eyes, various other parts of monsters. A dusty mounted trophy on the wall looked like a giant snake's head, but with horns and a full set of shark's teeth. The plaque read, HYDRA HEAD #1, WOODSTOCK, N.Y., 1969.**_

Some jaws dropped, there had been a hydra attack on Woodstock?

Orpheus suddenly stopped reading and looked over at the demigods who noticing his gaze nodded to the blonde who groaned inwardly, his father will not like this one bit.

_**By the window, sitting on a wooden tripod stool, was the most gruesome memento of all: a mummy.**_

Before anyone could comment Orpheus continued, but tried not to cring as he was starting to remember his trip to the Underworld, that boy needed to do that now did he.

_**Not the wrapped-in-cloth kind, but a human female body shriveled to a husk. She wore a tie-dyed sundress, lots of beaded necklaces, and a headband over long black hair. The skin of her face was thin and leathery over her skull, and her eyes were glassy white slits, as if the real eyes had been replaced by marbles; she'd been dead a long, long time.**_

"Uhm…around fifty years given or take." Annabeth said carefully while the others looked green in they faces at the description of that thing, Dakota only tackled a now bet red Octavian.

"Dakota! Get off of me this instant!" the blonde yelled, but the son of Bacchus was only hugging him tighter.

"Do you know how happy I am that you are alive?" Dakota asked making the poor guy go even more red.

"What happened to my Oracle!" Apollo yelled in shock while Felix, Frank and Trickster pried Dakota off of Octavian who looked close to hyperventilating.

"We are not sure dad only that she didn't change bodies since those fifty years." Lee answered carefully while they father flopped back into his throne massaging his forehead while Artemis and Hermes patted his arms in concern.

"Fifth book." Misty called out as a signal for Orpheus to continue.

_**Looking at her sent chills up my back. And that was before she sat up on her stool and opened her mouth.**_

"Uhg…give ominous music to it and you have a pretty good horror movie." Connor said happy that he never got a quest and thus never needed to go up there.

"I prefer aunt Rach." Lance whispered to the others who nodded, he ignored the Underworld cousins, they didn't have a problem with dead people.

_**A green mist poured from the mummy's mouth, coiling over the floor in thick tendrils, hissing like twenty thousand snakes. I stumbled over myself trying to get to the trap door, but it slammed shut.**_

_**Inside my head, I heard a voice, slithering into one ear and coiling around my brain: **__**I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask.**_

"Ouch, Arty what was that for?" Apollo hissed while rubbing the back of his head where his twin had hit him.

"For adding in the stupid solo action you did." she answered him with a glare.

"Sorry." he said knowing that she was angry because of the state he had been in when he returned, he would certainly feel the same if it would have been the other way around.

_**I wanted to say, **__**No thanks, wrong door, just looking for the bathroom. **__**But I forced myself to take a deep breath.**_

"Uh…just a question, what would have happened if he would have said that?" Connor asked curiously.

"She needs to tell the prophecy and if it belongs to a person she knows where they are she _will_ tell them, so she would have grabbed him and told him anyway and only let go when it was done." Enysswe said shrugging while the demigods looked either pale or green at the thought form being grabbed by the mummy of the Oracle.

"I agree with Dakota, I like the fact that you are alive Octavian." Trickster said a teddy murdering blonde versus mummy, he will take the teddy terror.

_**The mummy wasn't alive. She was some kind of gruesome receptacle for something else, the power that was now swirling around me in the green mist.**_

"Can you at least give me a hint what happened that the spirit refuses to change bodies?" Apollo pleaded with the legacies who were all looking at Enysswe now who sighed before looking at her grandfather.

"Her host did something extremely dangerous and foolish and thus got into a situation which could have ended with just a simple gesture of acceptance." was the only thing she said.

"Ok, she is also certainly yours, only you do this talk in riddles." Ares said at which Will blushed again.

_**But its presence didn't feel evil, like my demonic math teacher Mrs. Dodds or the Minotaur. It felt more like the Three Fates I'd seen knitting the yarn outside the highway fruit stand: ancient, powerful, and definitely **__**not **__**human. But not particularly interested in killing me, either.**_

There were many nods of approval at the observation.

_**I got up the courage to ask, "What is my destiny?"**_

_**The mist swirled more thickly, collecting right in front of me and around the table with the pickled monster-part jars. Suddenly there were four men sitting around the table, playing cards. Their faces became clearer. It was Smelly Gabe and his buddies.**_

Cue growls and threats.

_**My fists clenched, though I knew this poker party couldn't be real. It was an illusion, made out of mist.**_

_**Gabe turned toward me and spoke in the rasping voice of the Oracle: **__**You shall go west, and face the god who has turned.**_

The Greek demigods tried to not look in Hades's direction, they knew that there was more to this.

_**His buddy on the right looked up and said in the same voice: **__**You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned.**_

Zeus smiled at this while his family rolled they eyes at him.

_**The guy on the left threw in two poker chips, then said: **__**You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.**_

Everyone tensed again and Malcolm threw a worried glance at his sister.

_**Finally, Eddie, our building superior, delivered the worst line of all: **__**And you shall fail to save what matters most, in the end.**_

This only made the tension worse.

_**The figures began to dissolve. At first I was too stunned to say anything, but as the mist retreated, coiling into a huge green serpent and slithering back into the mouth of the mummy, I cried, "Wait! What do you mean? What friend? What will I fail to save?"**_

"Sorry, she won't answer." Apollo said still wondering what happened to his Oracle.

_**The tail of the mist snake disappeared into the mummy's mouth. She reclined back against the wall. Her mouth closed tight, as if it hadn't been open in a hundred years. The attic was silent again, abandoned, nothing but a room full of mementos.**_

_**I got the feeling that I could stand here until I had cob webs, too, and I wouldn't learn anything else.**_

_**My audience with the Oracle was over.**_

_**"Well?" Chiron asked me.**_

_**I slumped into a chair at the pinochle table. "She said I would retrieve what was stolen."**_

_**Grover sat forward, chewing excitedly on the remains of a Diet Coke can. "That's great!"**_

_**"What did the Oracle say **__**exactly?" **__**Chiron pressed. "This is important."**_

"Understatement."

_**My ears were still tingling from the reptilian voice. "She ... she said I would go west and face a god who had turned. I would retrieve what was stolen and see it safely returned."**_

_**"I knew it," Grover said.**_

_**Chiron didn't look satisfied. "Anything else?"**_

_**I didn't want to tell him.**_

_**What friend would betray me? I didn't have that many.**_

"Now he has a pretty good number, the fan club not included." Misty said.

"Fan club?" asked the stunned demigods.

"Yep, a club who is deadly afraid whenever mom is holding her knife." Sally said while Annabeth blushed much to the annoyance of her father, Athena decided to wait somewhat more to see what to think about the relationship.

_**And the last line—I would fail to save what mattered most. What kind of Oracle would send me on a quest and tell me, **__**Oh, by the way, you'll fail**__**.**_

"Is that supposed to be a hypocritical question?" Apollo asked with a raised eyebrow, no actual oracle would be predicting you flowers and sunshine a prophecy is generally depressing or predicts not good things for the receiver which they need to overcome.

_**How could I confess that?**_

_**"No," I said. "That's about it."**_

_**He studied my face. "Very well, Percy. But know this: the Oracle's words often have double meanings. Don't dwell on them too much. The truth is not always clear until events come to pass."**_

"That is an understatement about the double meaning." Nathan said as he looked at Mich who nodded so no one noticed Enysswe who held back a sigh, she would be on this day in they time sixteen and get told about the prophecy which was the ground for her birth in the first place.

_**I got the feeling he knew I was holding back something bad, and he was trying to make me feel better.**_

"He would be not the first of my pupils to do that." Chiron replied.

_**"Okay," I said, anxious to change topics. "So where do I go? Who's this god in the west?"**_

_**"Ah, think, Percy," Chiron said. "If Zeus and Poseidon weaken each other in a war, who stands to gain?"**_

Enysswe and Henry huffed in annoyance.

_**"Somebody else who wants to take over?" I guessed.**_

_**"Yes, quite. Someone who harbors a grudge, who has been unhappy with his lot since the world was divided eons ago, whose kingdom would grow powerful with the deaths of millions. Someone who hates his brothers for forcing him into an oath to have no more children, an oath that both of them have now broken."**_

Chiron shifted uneasily under the glare he got from Hades, Persephone, Enysswe and Henry.

"Do I look like as if I would want more death?" Hades asked his brother testily, he was starting to have enough from everyone thinking that he was evil. "I may be not pleased as often with my realm as I should be, but I like that place both Poseidon and Zeus would never manage to keep it in control and I may be often angry with my brothers, but I would never wish destroying them." he finished.

"I'm sorry." Chiron said as the glares continued.

_**I thought about my dreams, the evil voice that had spoken from under the ground. "Hades."**_

_**Chiron nodded. "The Lord of the Dead is the only possibility."**_

"More like the only you wanted to accept." Henry snapped.

"And while Luke will be moody till the fifth book will these two be the same till near the end of this one." Misty informed everyone who looked nervous, they had already seen Enysswe angry a few times while reading and they didn't know that outside were three siblings still ranting about how unfair they father gets treated.

_**A scrap of aluminum dribbled out of Grover's mouth. "Whoa, wait. Wh-what?"**_

No one snickered at this.

_**"A Fury came after Percy," Chiron reminded him. "She watched the young man until she was sure of his identity, then tried to kill him. Furies obey only one lord: Hades."**_

_**"Yes, but—but Hades hates **__**all **__**heroes," **_

Hades huffed in annoyance while Persephone snuggled closer to him to show her support.

"Strange, that he still can be agreeable." Dionysus said earning himself a small smile from his uncle.

_**Grover protested. "Especially if he has found out Percy is a son of Poseidon..."**_

_**"A hellhound got into the forest," Chiron continued.**_

"Peace, I realize my mistake." Chiron said when Enysswe and Henry returned they glares to him.

"The only way the hellhound could have been summoned would be that the person is either a child of Lord Hades or had an ally to help them." Chiron said carefully.

_**"Those can only be summoned from the Fields of Punishment, and it had to be summoned by someone within the camp. Hades must have a spy here. He must suspect Poseidon will try to use Percy to clear his name. Hades would very much like to kill this young half-blood before he can take on the quest."**_

It was not easy to ignore the growls or the dancing shadows.

_**"Great," I muttered. "That's two major gods who want to kill me."**_

"Two of many more to come, though Lord Hades is now kind of a different case." Lance said while the others were busy not groaning.

"What do you mean?" Theseus asked still worried for his little brother.

"Well, Lord Hades is still trying to decide how he feels bout uncle Percy seeing the things he did and uncle Nico's and aunt Hazel's attachment to him. In other words he is stuck between if he should, which we hope not, loose his life to right out place him on the Isle of Blest or throw him into Tartaros." Mich explained seeing how En and Ry were still busy trying to coming murderer with they looks, till now luckily they didn't schussed.

"Uhm…that sounds nice…" Hades said slightly confused, his nephew will certainly give them all either gray hair or headaches.

_**"But a quest to ..." Grover swallowed. "I mean, couldn't the master bolt be in some place like Maine? Maine's very nice this time of year."**_

"Not going to work uncle Grover." Misty said.

_**"Hades sent a minion to steal the master bolt," Chiron insisted. "He hid it in the Underworld, knowing full well that Zeus would blame Poseidon.**__**I don't pretend to under stand the Lord of the Dead's motives perfectly, or why he chose this time to start a war, but one thing is certain. Percy must go to the Underworld, find the master bolt, and reveal the truth."**_

"He will, but not what everyone had thought." Sally said while ignoring the three members of they family who were muttering some highly scary things under they breaths.

_**A strange fire burned in my stomach. The weirdest thing was: it wasn't fear. It was anticipation. The desire for revenge. Hades had tried to kill me three times so far, with the Fury, the Minotaur, and the hellhound. It was his fault my mother had disappeared in a flash of light. Now he was trying to frame me and my dad for a theft we hadn't committed.**_

More angry huffs and muttering while the others looked uncomfortable.

_**I was ready to take him on.**_

_**Besides, if my mother was in the Underworld…**_

_**Whoa, boy, said the small part of my brain that was still sane. You're a kid. Hades is a god.**_

"At least he remembered." Hades grumbled while Mich already wanted to comment that this wont stop him in the fifth book, but decided that he didn't want to be assaulted by the golden table a second time since they arrived or who knows how many skeletons.

_**Grover was trembling. He'd started eating pinochle cards like potato chips.**_

_**The poor guy needed to complete a quest with me so he could get his searcher's license, whatever that was, but how could I ask him to do this quest, especially when the Oracle said I was destined to fail? This was suicide.**_

"Uhm…actually one would call this manslaughter, in the case of suicide you can decide to do it or not, but here you have that not." Will said carefully as his ADHD jumped in without a warning.

"You know, I'm starting to see how you ended up with his son." Ares said while pointing at Hades making Will blush again, at least had he not babbled out his hobby regards poisons.

"I'm starting to agree with Clarisse's dad about this." Connor whispered to his brother.

_**"Look, if we know it's Hades," I told Chiron, "why can't we just tell the other gods? Zeus or Poseidon could go down to the Underworld and bust some heads."**_

"If I don't give my permission he can't enter." Hades grumbled, this was why he could not enter his old home except once a year.

_**"Suspecting and knowing are not the same," Chiron said. "Besides, even if the other gods suspect Hades—and I imagine Poseidon does—**_

Hades looked even more annoyed wondering what he had ever done against his siblings that they will detest him so much while said siblings shifted in they seats.

_**they couldn't retrieve the bolt themselves. Gods cannot cross each other's territories except by invitation. That is another ancient rule. Heroes, on the other hand, have certain privileges. They can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as they're bold enough and strong enough to do it.**__**No god can be held responsible for a hero's actions. Why do you think the gods always operate through humans?"**_

The gods flinched at this.

_**"You're saying I'm being used."**_

Cue more flinching.

"Do you all feel like this?" Athena asked, but seeing the hanging heads of he demigods was answer enough.

_**"I'm saying it's no accident Poseidon has claimed you now. It's a very risky gamble, but he's in a desperate situation. He needs you."**_

_**My dad needs me.**_

_**Emotions rolled around inside me like bits of glass in a kaleidoscope. I didn't know whether to feel resentful or grateful or happy or angry. **_

"Just settle for all of them and it will go easier." the gods didn't look who suggested it they were all staring guiltily at the ground that they children felt like they only had them as some type of object they could toy with.

_**Poseidon had ignored me for twelve years. Now suddenly he needed me.**_

"Stupid law." Apollo growled, he had taken great risk to teach Orpheus music himself even thought he was his father.

_**I looked at Chiron. "You've known I was Poseidon's son all along, haven't you?"**_

_**"I had my suspicions. As I said ... I've spoken to the Oracle, too."**_

"I would really like to know that prophecy." Annabeth mumbled, but she could not go against the Fate's order.

_**I got the feeling there was a lot he wasn't telling me about his prophecy, but I decided I couldn't worry about that right now. After all, I was holding back information too.**_

_**"So let me get this straight," I said. "I'm supposed go to the Underworld and confront the Lord of the Dead."**_

_**"Check," Chiron said.**_

_**"Find the most powerful weapon in the universe."**_

_**"Check."**_

_**"And get it back to Olympus before the summer solstice, in ten days."**_

_**"That's about right."**_

_**I looked at Grover, who gulped down the ace of hearts.**_

"Dad won't be happy when he gets back and sees that some cards are missing." Castor whispered to Pollux who nodded.

"The last time a satyr at some of them he spent a month looking for them before getting new ones." he whispered back.

_**"Did I mention that Maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly.**_

_**"You don't have to go," I told him. "I can't ask that of you."**_

_**"Oh..." He shifted his hooves. "No... it's just that satyrs and underground places... well..."**_

"Agreed." said Hermes and Dionysus at the same time while the legacies tried not to flinch.

_**He took a deep breath, then stood, brushing the shredded cards and aluminum bits off his T-shirt. "You saved my life, Percy. If ... if you're serious about wanting me along, I won't let you down."**_

_**I felt so relieved I wanted to cry,**__**though I didn't think that would be very heroic.**_

"No it isn't heroic, it shows that you are human." Mitchell said shrugging, his granddad tended to say this kind of often.

"Very true." Athena said nodding; she would not have excepted such a comment from a chid of the Love Goddess.

_**Grover was the only friend I'd ever had for longer than a few months.**_

Most people looked sad at this, but felt glad that it will change.

_**I wasn't sure what good a satyr could do against the forces of the dead, but I felt better knowing he'd be with me.**_

_**"All the way, G-man." I turned to Chiron. "So where do we go? The Oracle just said to go west."**_

_**"The entrance to the Underworld is always in the west. It moves from age to age, just like Olympus. Right now, of course, it's in America."**_

_**"Where?"**_

_**Chiron looked surprised. "I thought that would be obvious enough. The entrance to the Underworld is in Los Angeles."**_

Those demigods who didn't know started blinking while Mitchell had now a good guess why he felt so nervous when they did a shooting there last year.

"Oh the irony that the entrance to the Underworld is there from all places." Trickster said while shaking his head.

"Why is that?" Athena asked, she liked gaining more knowledge.

"The name of the city means _'The Angels' _and is also often referred to as the city of angels or also the city of stars because in the future many movie studios are built there which produce in a way plays for the large audience and many famous people who are called stars live there. It is also the leading world center of business, international trade, entertainment, culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, and education." Annabeth explained.

"I can see the irony now a city which is thriving with life hosts the Land of Dead down under." Artemis said.

_**"Oh," I said. "Naturally. So we just get on a plane—"**_

"NO!" come the panicked yells.

_**"No!" Grover shrieked. "Percy, what are you thinking? Have you ever been on a plane in your life?"**_

_**I shook my head, feeling embarrassed. My mom had never taken me anywhere by plane. She'd always said we didn't have the money. Besides, her parents had died in a plane crash.**_

Cue glares at Zeus.

_**"Percy, think," Chiron said. "You are the son of the Sea God. Your father's bitterest rival is Zeus, Lord of the Sky. Your mother knew better than to trust you in an airplane. You would be in Zeus's domain. You would never come down again alive."**_

_**Overhead, lightning crackled. Thunder boomed.**_

"Oh, shut up you overeager Drama Queen." Hera huffed to a glowering Zeus while the others started snickering.

_**"Okay," I said, determined not to look at the storm. "So, I'll travel overland."**_

_**"That's right," Chiron said. "Two companions may accompany you. Grover is one. The other has already volunteered, if you will accept her help."**_

_**"Gee," I said, feigning surprise. "Who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a quest like this?"**_

There were some snickers while Annabeth blushed.

_**The air shimmered behind Chiron.**_

_**Annabeth became visible, stuffing her Yankees cap into her back pocket.**_

_**"I've been waiting a long time for a quest, Seaweed Brain," she said. "Athena is no fan of Poseidon,**_

"And again we see how that ended." Silena said smiling brightly making Annabeth's blush worsen.

_**but if you're going to save the world, I'm the best person to keep you from messing up."**_

_**"If you do say so yourself," I said. "I suppose you have a plan, Wise Girl?"**_

"Aww, you are already talking with each other using your nicknames for the other." Silena gushed again with her mother nodding eagerly.

_**Her cheeks colored.**_

"Silena, not even a word." Annabeth growled at the black haired girl.

_**"Do you want my help or not?"**_

_**The truth was, I did. I needed all the help I could get.**_

_**"A trio," I said. "That'll work."**_

_**"Excellent," Chiron said. "This afternoon, we can take you as far as the bus terminal in Manhattan. After that, you are on your own."**_

_**Lightning flashed. Rain poured down on the meadows that were never supposed to have violent weather.**_

_**"No time to waste," Chiron said. "I think you should all get packing."**_

"This was the end of the chapter." Orpheus said.

"Then I would like to read." Athena said as she stood up from her throne and walked over to the blonde hero who gave her the book with a small bow to show his respect. Returning to her throne Athena flipped over to the next chapter.

_To be continued…_


	11. The math teacher from Hell returns

XI. The math teacher from Hell returns

Looking down at the title looked Athena somewhat confused, but she certainly got that Poseidon's spawn will wreck something just like his father would.

_**I Ruin a Perfectly Good Bus**_

"A what?" Orion asked before anyone could stop him and Annabeth opened her mouth to answer, but Will beat her to it.

"Something like a large chariot with four wheels which can drive without horses and has a roof over it. It is used by many people as means of transportation." he explained, but his siblings and friends noted that there was a type of hostility in his happy tone while he looked at the son of Poseidon.

"Why would he ruin something like that?" Perseus asked still a bit surprised about the whole horseless chariot thing.

"If we let Lady Athena read you will know." Misty cut in or this conversation could go on for a while, it was already a wonder that no one of the antique were asking questions after every second word because they have no clue what that is.

"O…of course, forgive us Milady." Perseus said to the goddess blushing in embarrassment.

"It is alright." she replied before starting to read.

_**It didn't take me long to pack. I decided to leave the Minotaur horn in my cabin, which left me only an extra change of clothes and a toothbrush to stuff in a backpack Grover had found for me.**_

_**The camp store loaned me one hundred dollars in mortal money and twenty golden drachmas. These coins were as big as Girl Scout cookies and had images of various Greek gods stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other. The ancient mortal drachmas had been silver, Chiron told us, but Olympians never used less than pure gold**__._

The gods nodded at this as if this would have been a ridiculous thing to think otherwise.

"By the way, I'm curious if you also use drachma as your currency?" Annabeth asked as she leaned closer to the Romans.

"No, we use denarii which are much smaller and are made of silver though our weapons are made out of Imperial Gold." Reyna explained to Annabeth who nodded.

_**Chiron said the coins might come in handy for non-mortal transactions—whatever that meant.**_

"Oh, don't worry dad you will know." Sally said giggling.

_**He gave Annabeth and me each a canteen of nectar and a Ziploc bag full of ambrosia squares, to be used only in emergencies, if we were seriously hurt. It was god food, Chiron reminded us. It would cure us of almost any injury, but it was lethal to mortals. Too much of it would make a half-blood very, very feverish. An overdose would burn us up, literally.**_

The demigods and legacies from the future nodded when they noticed that those from the past were looking at them with wide eyes.

"Uh…yes?" Annabeth asked carefully.

"How come that you are in possession of ambrosia and nectar?" asked Athena.

"That we have it was already mentioned some chapters ago." Annabeth answered her mother not understanding the problem.

"Yes, but we thought that it get provided when a camper arrives badly injured, but not that there is a larger amount of it." Athena answered back while the past heroes felt a bit jealous, those would have come handy on they own quests.

"When the camps were established had the gods decided to provide a large number of ambrosia and nectar so that when the young demigods should go for a quest and before we had protective borders was it to help the children survive. After the magical borders were established was it decided that we should still keep both things for safety measures." Chiron explained to the gods who nodded slowly.

_**Annabeth was bringing her magic Yankees cap, which she told me had been a twelfth-birthday present from her mom.**_

Mother and daughter smiled at each other.

_**She carried a book on famous classical architecture, written in Ancient Greek, to read when she got bored, and a long bronze knife, hidden in her shirt sleeve. I was sure the knife would get us busted the first time we went through a metal detector**__._

"Our weapons can't be detected by those mortal devices." Jake said with a shrug of his shoulder.

_**Grover wore his fake feet and his pants to pass as human. He wore a green rasta-style cap, because when it rained his curly hair flattened and you could just see the tips of his horns. His bright orange backpack was full of scrap metal and apples to snack on. In his pocket was a set of reed pipes his daddy goat had carved for him, even though he only knew two songs: Mozart's Piano Concerto no. 12 and Hilary Duff's "So Yesterday," both of which sounded pretty bad on reed pipes.**_

"Agreed." those who have heard it Grover play on his pipes said.

"There is a ground our half-brother had given that music the title _'piano concerto'_ and not 'reed pipe concerto'" Lee said shuddering he was sure that Amadeus would be not pleased to know what was done to his work.

_**We waved good-bye to the other campers, took one last look at the strawberry fields, the ocean, and the Big House, then hiked up Half-Blood Hill to the tall pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus.**_

Those who didn't know that she was fine looked down in silence for a minute.

_**Chiron was waiting for us in his wheelchair. Next to him stood the surfer dude I'd seen when I was recovering in the sick room. According to Grover, the guy was the camp's head of security.**_

"Thank you." Hera said happily to Chiron while Zeus scowled, it annoyed his how attached his wife was to that creature.

_**He supposedly had eyes all over his body so he could never be surprised. Today, though, he was wearing a chauffeur's uniform, so I could only see extra peepers on his hands, face and neck.**_

_**"This is Argus," Chiron told me. "He will drive you into the city, and, er, well, keep an eye on things."**_

"Chiron, do you wish that we also include to your subject changing classes also additional ones about how to make good puns?" Connor asked they activity director who was blushing and shaking his head.

"I will put him down for three just in case." Travis said and scribbled it down in the black not book.

_**I heard footsteps behind us.**_

_**Luke came running up the hill, carrying a pair of basketball shoes.**_

And Luke was back to muttering again, but this time looked also Henry and Enysswe close to joining him in whatever he was saying.

_**"Hey!" he panted. "Glad I caught you."**_

"Ooohh, I'm sure that you were." Luke said sweetly making some people shiver and hope that they will be soon by the last book.

_**Annabeth blushed, the way she always did when Luke was around.**_

Cue blushing Annabeth, growling from both Jackson siblings and happy grins from Aphrodite and her daughters, much to some people's confusion was Mitchell frowning anstead of joining in with his siblings and mother.

_**"Just wanted to say good luck," Luke told me. "And I thought ... um, maybe you could use these."**_

"Gee, I wonder why?" this time it was Henry who asked with false wonder, his golden eyes flashing like the metal itself.

_**He handed me the sneakers, which looked pretty normal. They even smelled kind of normal. **_

_**Luke said,**__**"**__**Maia**__**!"**_

"GAAAHHH" everyone heard the scream closely followed be the sound of crashing and a type of whimpered command before a dazed Hermes crashed into Apollo's lap almost knocking the wind out of his brother.

"Dad/granddad!" yelled his kids and grandchildren.

"I got this under control." Apollo said in a pained tone as she put his brother back into his throne, after making sure that he had no broken bones, and went to treat him.

"Knew that I should have changed shoes before coming here." Hermes groaned, his intimate rendezvous with the ceiling was anything, but fun, leave alone the landing on Apollo. He really loved his half-brother, but not like that to be in his lap!

"So you'r using your mother's name as the activation's command?" Zeus asked not noticing how Hera flinched, but Hephaestus did so he stood up and gave his mother a hug much to the surprise of his father, uncle and aunts except Hestia who smiled brightly at the exchange.

"Granddad, you should go changing your shoes then, it is better for your health." Misty said and Hermes nodded then flashed out for five minutes.

"We can continue." he said while Hephaestus went back to his throne, but as he did so nudged his brother that he should not delay his talk with they mother for to long.

_**White bird's wings sprouted out of the heels, startling me so much, I dropped them. The shoes flapped around on the ground until the wings folded up and disappeared.**_

_**"Awesome!" Grover said.**_

_**Luke smiled. "Those served me well when I was on my quest. Gift from Dad. Of course, I don't use them much these days..." His expression turned sad.**_

"Strange, dad and uncle Travis used theirs for pranks in camp." Misty said testily while her dad and uncle turned to her they eyes shining while the others held back they groans only because they looked so hopeful and happy at the moment.

"Yup, both personally delivered by granddad on your respective birthdays." Lance said while the brothers turned now to they father.

"Thank you so much dad, you are the best." both chorused to Hermes who grinned back at them feeling happy to see the excited faces of his children.

"No problem boys." he replied.

_**I didn't know what to say. It was cool enough that Luke had come to say good-bye. I'd been afraid he might resent me for getting so much attention the last few days.**_

"Nah, he resents you for what your existence means if he can't get you to be his buddy." Luke said testily.

"I'm really starting to worry about him." whispered Pollux to Katie who nodded.

_**But here he was giving me a magic gift... It made me blush almost as much as Annabeth.**_

"The first person to comment on this sentence will have Enysswe to deal with." Sally said darkly, she hated using her friend as a threat, but really if even one comments that her dad might have felt attracted to the original Luke will she not fear using drastic measures.

"Should I be worried that she is using our granddaughter as a threat?" Hades whispered to his wife who looked thoughtful.

"I'm not sure, but till now has she shown that she is pretty powerful." Persephone whispered back while Athena continued reading not doubting that her granddaughter would go with her threat.

"You know that I hate being used as a threat." Enysswe whispered to Sally who shrugged.

"Better then hearing someone gush that my dad wanted to date that guy." she whispered back not even wanting to think about the idea with which Aphrodite would come up with for her parents if she thought that. No need to ad them to the already existing threesome relationships, some have in the future En's parents not counted in.

_**"Hey, man," I said. "Thanks."**_

_**"Listen, Percy ..." Luke looked uncomfortable. "A lot of hopes are riding on you. So just ... kill some monsters for me, okay?"**_

"Oh, please can't you make a more pathetic comment?" Luke said while rolling his eyes.

"I would really like to know what you have against him?" Annabeth said, she could really not take it much longer.

"You will see soon mom." Luke replied back as Sally signalled to they grandmother that she should continue before an argument breaks out.

_**We shook hands. Luke patted Grover's head between his horns, then gave a good-bye hug to Annabeth, who looked like she might pass out.**_

Annabeth blushed momentanly forgetting that she was angry at her son.

_**After Luke was gone, I told her, "You're hyperventilating."**_

_**"Am not."**_

_**"You let him capture the flag instead of you, didn't you?"**_

Cue the growling.

"Just forget it, the book will tell us what the problem is." Clarisse said when Annabeth looked as if she might say something.

_**"Oh... why do I want to go anywhere with you, Percy?"**_

Before Aphrodite could say her suggestion was she beat to it by her grandson.

"I don't think that you want to drag out this reading with also going over the list you have written, it is easily seventy feet long and you are still not done." Mich added in which made everyone gap at the blushing daughter of Athena.

"Aphrodite, are you alright?" Hephaestus asked his wife who was fanning herself.

"Ye…yes I'm only feeling a bit feint from the thought of such a romance." she replied back smiling while her husband carefully nodded before exchanging slightly worried glances with his brother.

_**She stomped down the other side of the hill, where a white SUV waited on the shoulder of the road. Argus followed, jingling his car keys.**_

_**I picked up the flying shoes and had a sudden bad feeling. I looked at Chiron. "I won't be able to use these, will I?"**_

"Good." the legacies said together making everyone bite they tongues in frustration that they had not the slightest clue, except two, what they problem was.

_**He shook his head. "Luke meant well, Percy.**_

Luke snorted at this. "Meant well my a_humpf._"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence Luke Jackson." Sally told her brother before she took her hand from his mouth.

_**But taking to the air ... that would not be wise for you."**_

_**I nodded, disappointed, but then I got an idea. "Hey, Grover. You want a magic item?"**_

_**His eyes lit up. "Me?"**_

_**Pretty soon we'd laced the sneakers over his fake feet, and the world's first flying goat boy was ready for launch.**_

_**"**__**Maia**__**!"**__**he shouted.**_

"I see what you meant with it being better if I changed shoes." Hermes said, his head was still throbbing a bit from his crash, but at least was his back fine, unlike by Apollo.

"True and Herm, I think aunt Demeter should set you on a wheat diet." Apollo huffed at which his brother stared at him with horror filled eyes while Demeter's eyes lit up.

"My pleasure." Demeter said as Hermes become even paler.

"Apollo, please no, have mercy." he pleaded, but the other only ignored him as his back gave another small reminder that they were used as a landing place.

_**He got off the ground okay, but then fell over sideways so his backpack dragged through the grass. The winged shoes kept bucking up and down like tiny broncos.**_

_**"Practice," Chiron called after him. "You just need practice!"**_

"Practice, really Chiron this is what you tell him right before a quest while he is in the air with flying shoes he can't control?" Lupa asked the blushing centaur which made the gods chuckle, yes they were certainly seeing what Aphrodite's kids saw.

_**"Aaaaa!" Grover went flying sideways down the hill like a possessed lawn mower, heading toward the van.**_

Cue hysterical laughter from all those who have imagined the scene, it took everyone a good ten minutes to calm down again so that Athena could continue.

_**Before I could follow, Chiron caught my arm. "I should have trained you better, Percy," he said. "If only I had more time. Hercules, Jason—they all got more training."**_

Both mentioned men nodded with Jason smiling at his old teacher that he mentioned him even thought he was not a demigod.

_**"That's okay. I just wish—"**_

_**I stopped myself because I was about to sound like a brat. I was wishing my dad had given me a cool magic item to help on the quest, something as good as Luke's flying shoes, or Annabeth's invisible cap.**_

_**"What am I thinking?" Chiron cried. "I can't let you get away without this."**_

_**He pulled a pen from his coat pocket and handed it to me. It was an ordinary disposable ballpoint, black ink, removable cap. Probably cost thirty cents.**_

"Is this the same as in the museum?" Athena asked the legacies who nodded.

"Now he will have a balanced sword." Clarisse said approvingly.

_**"Percy, that's a gift from your father. I've kept it for years, not knowing you were who I was waiting for. But the prophecy is clear to me now. You are the one."**_

"I really would like to know that prophecy." Annabeth mumbled again, but let her mother continue.

_**I remembered the field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, when I'd vaporized Mrs. Dodds. Chiron had thrown me a pen that turned into a sword. Could this be...?**_

_**I took off the cap, and the pen grew longer and heavier in my hand. In half a second, I held a shimmering bronze sword with a double-edged blade, a leather-wrapped grip, and a flat hilt riveted with gold studs. It was the first weapon that actually felt balanced in my hand.**_

Both Artemis and Hercules frowned that sword sounded eerily familiar to them.

_**"The sword has a long and tragic history that we need not go into," Chiron told me.**_

"It certainly does." Enysswe said as her eyes flashed at Hercules who tensed at her glare when Athena gasped as she noticed the next line in the book and threw a fleeting glance at her fidgeting half-brother and at her sister.

_**"Its name is Anaklusmos." "Its name is Anaklusmos."**_

Again fell a deep silence over everything when suddenly two voices broke out.

"WHAT!" screamed both Artemis and Hercules.

"This is the same sword my poor Zoe gave this jerk of a man." Artemis sheeted while pointing at Hercules who was still stunned that the sword would end up by one of his cousins.

"Lady Artemis, please sit down and let Lady Athena continue." Henry said carefully not even flinching when the goddess turned into his direction, he put that down that living in the Underworld kind of gives you a longer resistance for glares. "Milady, beside that we have mentioned about you accepting him there will be another person who will be glad that this blade will be placed into my uncle's property." he finished.

"Fine." Artemis huffed as she sat back down, but sent one last glare at Hercules which indicated that if he makes even one noise till they are done for tonight will she shoot him with an arrow where it really hurts.

Seeing that things have calmed down somewhat started Athena reading again while Apollo took his sister's hand into his.

_**"'Riptide,'" I translated, surprised the Ancient Greek came so easily.**_

_**"Use it only for emergencies," Chiron said, "and only against monsters. No hero should harm mortals unless absolutely necessary,**_

"Unfortunately was someone to busy with his daddy issues to get that memo." Luke growled so that only those sitting the closest to him could hear.

_**of course, but this sword wouldn't harm them in any case."**_

_**I looked at the wickedly sharp blade. "What do you mean it wouldn't harm mortals?" How could it not?**_

_**"The sword is celestial bronze. Forged by the Cyclopes, tempered in the heart of Mount Etna, cooled in the River Lethe. It's deadly to monsters, to any creature from the Underworld, provided they don't kill you first. **_

The gods all looked over at a fidgeting Chiron with raised eyebrows.

_**But the blade will pass through mortals like an illusion. They simply are not important enough for the blade to kill. And I should warn you: as a demigod, you can be killed by either celestial or normal weapons. You are **__**twice **__**as vulnerable."**_

"I hope you remember that you are sending a twelve years old boy out on a dangerous quest." Amphitrite said to Chiron who avoided her gaze.

"I'm sorry Lady Amphitrite." he said.

_**"Good to know."**_

_**"Now recap the pen."**_

_**I touched the pen cap to the sword tip and instantly Riptide shrank to a ballpoint pen again. I tucked it in my pocket, a little nervous, because I was famous for losing pens at school.**_

_**"You can't," Chiron said.**_

_**"Can't what?"**_

_**"Lose the pen," he said. "It is enchanted. It will always reappear in your pocket. Try it."**_

"Wish my coin would have that function." Jay said while looking up at Reyna who was still busy playing with his hair, he was really liking this less cold side of her.

_**I was wary, but I threw the pen as far as I could down the hill and watched it disappear in the grass.**_

_**"It may take a few moments," Chiron told me. "Now check your pocket."**_

_**Sure enough, the pen was there.**_

"Which is really useful." Clarisse noted while the others nodded they heads in agreement.

"By the way, what would have happened if Chiron had been wrong?" Connor asked suddenly while looking over at his teacher.

"I would have probably gotten the whole camp to look for it in the grass." Chiron replied with a shrug while the children paled.

"What is with them?" Felix asked curiously.

"That grass on that hill is waist high." was Dakota's simple reply at which both Trickster and Felix exchanged a shocked glance.

"I think I agree with them." Felix replied hurriedly.

_**"Okay, that's **__**extremely **__**cool," I admitted. "But what if a mortal sees me pulling out a sword?"**_

_**Chiron smiled. "Mist is a powerful thing, Percy."**_

_**"Mist?"**_

_**"Yes. Read **__**The Iliad. **_

"Which is about the Trojan War." Odysseus said still feeling slightly uncomfortable about the fact that there is a whole epos about his journey back home.

_**It's full of references to the stuff. Whenever divine or monstrous elements mix with the mortal world, they generate Mist, which obscures the vision of humans.**_

"Though not always as one would like it." Sally mumbled to her parents remembering how much trouble the Mist had caused her parents on this quest.

_**You will see things just as they are, being a half-blood, but humans will interpret things quite differently. Remarkable, really, the lengths to which humans will go to fit things into their version of reality."**_

The demigods nodded at this while the Chases felt somewhat offended, but didn't comment.

_**I put Riptide back in my pocket.**_

_**For the first time, the quest felt real. I was actually leaving Half-Blood Hill. I was heading west with no adult supervision, no backup plan, not even a cell phone. (Chiron said cell phones were traceable by monsters; if we used one, it would be worse than sending up a flare.) I had no weapon stronger than a sword to fight off monsters and reach the Land of the Dead.**_

"So the usual for a demigod." Theseus supplied starting to feel worried again for his little brother.

_**"Chiron ..." I said. "When you say the gods are immortal... I mean, there was a time **__**before **__**them, right?"**_

The older gods shuddered.

"He really needed to ask now did he?" Demeter asked.

_**"Four ages before them, actually. The Time of the Titans was the Fourth Age, sometimes called the Golden Age,**_

"Which certainly is a misnomer if one asks anyone beside some of the dangerous Titans." Sally said while the gods nodded in agreement as Athena beamed, it seemed that there was some hope for the children of her daughter's union.

_**which is definitely a misnomer. This, the time of Western civilization and the rule of Zeus, is the Fifth Age."**_

_**"So what was it like ... before the gods?"**_

The mood continued to darken.

_**Chiron pursed his lips. "Even I am not old enough to remember that, child, but I know it was a time of darkness and savagery for mortals. Kronos, the lord of the Titans, called his reign the Golden Age because men lived innocent and free of all knowledge.**_

Athena and her children shuddered at the thought of no knowledge.

_**But that was mere propaganda. The Titan king cared nothing for your kind except as appetizers or a source of cheap entertainment. It was only in the early reign of Lord Zeus, when Prometheus the good Titan brought fire to mankind, that your species began to progress, and even then Prometheus was branded a radical thinker. Zeus punished him severely, as you may recall.**_

"It is hard to forget that." Enysswe growled at Zeus, Prometheus had not deserved his punishment at all and even after what he was made to go through he still tired to help they side. "The next time one does something you don't like because you get jealous that you failed to do the same as them be a man and suck it up." she growled leaving only two things which stopped a furious Zeus from trying to attack the girl beside the fact that both his brother and son would attack him in return was his oath and the fact that the Fates and Lady Nyx would react more then unkind to him.

"I don't need to defend myself in front of a kid." Zeus growled out locking eyes with the Mortal Goddess.

"You really don't, the books will give freely what you are in denial about and refuse to acklowge." she said resting her case and yes she knew that she was acting disrespectful, but as her grandfather told her; "The kin of the Night Goddess only respects those who earn it." In other words she will show respect if Zeus admits his mistakes, beside that is she in the least danger to be hurt by him unlike her cousins.

"Will, your daughter had guts." Michael whispered to his little brother who looked worriedly at his daughter.

"Athena, I think you should continue." Ares whispered to his sister, even if he liked war between his relatives, but something told him that it would not be fun if his father and his grandniece/cousin start fighting.

"I'm with you." Athena replied and started reading hurriedly, if her calculations were right would most of them get hurt if a fight breaks out.

_**Of course, eventually the gods warmed to humans, and Western civilization was born."**_

Athena continued before anyone could comment.

_**"But the gods can't die now, right? I mean, as long as Western civilization is alive, they're alive. So ... even if I failed, nothing could happen so bad it would mess up **__**everything, **__**right?"**_

"Sorry uncle Percy, but yes it would have ended it all." Lance said knowingly before Misty hit him over the head. "What was that for?" he asked his cousin.

"Stop making them nervous." she said gesturing to everyone other who were looking somewhat uncomfortable.

"Uh…sorry."

_**Chiron gave me a melancholy smile. "No one knows how long the Age of the West will last, Percy. The gods are immortal, yes. But then, so were the Titans. **__**They **__**still exist, locked away in their various prisons, forced to endure endless pain and punishment, reduced in power, but still very much alive.**_

"Chiron you forgot sheeting with rage." Ace added in while Misty went to hit him also for not helping the others with they nerves.

_**May the Fates forbid that the gods should ever suffer such a doom, or that we should ever return to the darkness and chaos of the past. All we can do, child, is follow our destiny."**_

_**"Our destiny ... assuming we know what that is."**_

_**"Relax," Chiron told me. "Keep a clear head. And remember, you may be about to prevent the biggest war in human history."**_

"Chiron, we also ad you in for pep talk classes, this was again a horrible example from your side." Travis said gravely as they teacher blushed.

_**"Relax," I said. "I'm very relaxed."**_

"That I doubt." Triton said with a raised eyebrow.

_**When I got to the bottom of the hill, I looked back. Under the pine tree that used to be Thalia, daughter of Zeus, Chiron was now standing in full horse-man form, holding his bow high in salute. Just your typical summer-camp send-off by your typical centaur.**_

There were a few weak snickers at the last sentence.

_**Argus drove us out of the countryside and into western Long Island. It felt weird to be on a highway again, Annabeth and Grover sitting next to me as if we were normal carpoolers. After two weeks at Half-Blood Hill, the real world seemed like a fantasy. I found myself staring at every McDonald's,**_

Enysswe sent a glare at her cousins that they should not dare make a noise, it was not her and her dad's fault that the ghosts seemed to like the food they make.

_**every kid in the back of his parents' car, every billboard and shopping mall.**_

With each word got those from the antique more and more confused, but they didn't ask because they wanted to hear the story.

_**"So far so good," I told Annabeth. "Ten miles and not a single monster."**_

_**She gave me an irritated look. "It's bad luck to talk that way, Seaweed Brain."**_

_**"Remind me again—why do you hate me so much?"**_

_**"I don't hate you."**_

_**"Could've fooled me."**_

"Agreed." the demigods said while Annabeth blushed, she was really messing up there even if the two of them would not end up together, Percy sounded like a nice guy who could make a good friend and she was acting like this with him because of his dad.

_**She folded her cap of invisibility. "Look ... we're just not supposed to get along, okay? Our parents are rivals."**_

_**"Why?"**_

_**She sighed. "How many reasons do you want? One time my mom caught Poseidon with his girlfriend in Athena's temple, which is **__**hugely **__**disrespectful.**_

Athena read that part with a growl.

"Technically she was only his lover and not girlfriend and grandmother, you kind of went overboard with your reaction." Sally said while Perseus nodded with a shiver as he remembered the sleeping Medusa.

"I did not." Athena said defiantly as Sally sighed.

"Please continue reading, our argument would only take pointlessly time away from reading and after this we still need to manage one last chapter for today." Sally said, the next chapter would make her grandmother understand.

"Fine." Athena said suspiciously, what she saw from the girl could she note that she is coming more after her mother and the fact that she gave up this easily bothered her, but she continued reading, she will figure it out after the reading when they had all retired for the night.

_**Another time, Athena and Poseidon competed to be the patron god for the city of Athens. Your dad created some stupid saltwater spring for his gift.**_

"Which kind of had its own uses if one knows how." Henry said making the goddess of Wisdom stare at him.

"What do you mean." she saw by any means no use for that well as did the people of her city.

"Well, if one knows how to separate the salt from the water one gets both, water which can be drunk or use to nurture the plants and salt to preserve food like flesh or use it as a kind of spice to some food types." Henry explained to the blinking gods.

"I will continue reading now." Athena said with a faint blush on her cheeks as she ignored everyone around her.

_**My mom created the olive tree. The people saw that her gift was better, so they named the city after her."**_

_**"They must really like olives." **_

There were some snickers as Athena continued hurriedly.

_**"Oh, forget it."**_

_**"Now, if she'd invented pizza—**__**that **__**I could understand."**_

Many nods from the guys who knew what that was.

_**"I said, forget it!"**_

_**In the front seat, Argus smiled. He didn't say anything, but one blue eye on the back of his neck winked at me.**_

"I really don't know if I should laugh or groan." Sally said while looking at her brother who nodded.

"What do you mean?" Katie asked when they suddenly heard Silena, Mitchell and Gwen groan, they mom had passed out in her throne and was now fanned by both her husband and boyfriend.

"Those two are the perfect example for love at first sight and everyone who takes a look at they interactions realizes it except for them." Silena groaned again as Annabeth went red as a tomato while her father spluttered, her mom only looked wide eyed.

"Tell us about it, dad only knew them like for five minutes and he figured it out and he was only ten years old." Enysswe said while the others looked unbelievingly at the girl.

"Mum read." Annabeth pleaded to her mother who luckily complied even if her voice sounded still somewhat mystified.

_**Traffic slowed us down in Queens. By the time we got into Manhattan it was sunset and starting to rain.**_

_**Argus dropped us at the Greyhound Station on the Upper East Side, not far from my mom and Gabe's apartment. Taped to a mailbox was a soggy flyer with my picture on it: HAVE YOU SEEN THIS BOY?**_

_**I ripped it down before Annabeth and Grover could notice.**_

"They both had." Sally supplied.

_**Argus unloaded our bags, made sure we got our bus tickets,**_

"He is always so forthcoming and dedicated to his tasks." Hera said beaming which made the Greek half-bloods nod in agreement, they also liked Argus when you got over the thing with the eyes you realize that he is pretty fun.

"You really adore him." Aphrodite stated as she finally come to be from the feelings she felt from Hera.

"Of course." the queen replied without missing a beat while her husband leaned back in his throne mumbling about blasted, thousand eyed freaks as some tried not to snicker at his jealousy.

_**then drove away, the eye on the back of his hand opening to watch us as he pulled out of the parking lot.**_

_**I thought about how close I was to my old apartment. On a normal day, my mom would be home from the candy store by now. Smelly Gabe was probably up there right now, playing poker, not even missing her.**_

Cue growls and threats.

_**Grover shouldered his backpack. He gazed down the street in the direction I was looking. "You want to know why she married him, Percy?"**_

_**I stared at him. "Were you reading my mind or something?"**_

_**"Just your emotions." He shrugged.**__**"Guess I forgot to tell you satyrs can do that.**_

_**You were thinking about your mom and your stepdad, right?"**_

_**I nodded, wondering what else Grover might've forgotten to tell me.**_

"Nothing much." come it from the Greek demigods.

_**"Your mom married Gabe for **__**you," **__**Grover told me. "You call him 'Smelly,' but you've got no idea. The guy has this aura…. Yuck. I can smell him from here. I can smell traces of him on you, and you haven't been near him for a week."**_

_**"Thanks," I said. "Where's the nearest shower?"**_

Everyone broke out laughing about this and took another five minutes to calm down.

_**"You should be grateful, Percy. Your stepfather smells so repulsively human he could mask the presence of any demigod.**_

Everyone shuddered at this, that mortal must certainly stink if he could hide any demigod no matter they parent and he proved it by hiding Percy.

"He won't like the ground why his mother went along with that man for all those years." Hestia said softly to herself.

_**As soon as I took a whiff inside his Camaro, I knew: Gabe has been covering your scent for years. If you hadn't lived with him every summer, you probably would've been found by monsters a long time ago.**_

_**Your mom stayed with him to protect you. She was a smart lady. She must've loved you a lot to put up with that guy—if that makes you feel any better."**_

"I think it will do the opposite Grover." Annabeth said while her father flinched, he certainly failed to be there for his daughter unlike that woman.

_**It didn't, but I forced myself not to show it.**_

_**I'll see her again, I thought. She isn't gone.**_

_**I wondered if Grover could still read my emotions, mixed up as they were. I was glad he and Annabeth were with me, but I felt guilty that I hadn't been straight with them. I hadn't told them the real reason I'd said yes to this crazy quest.**_

"I think they kind of guessed it anyway." Reyna said.

"Probably." agreed Annabeth.

_**The truth was, I didn't care about retrieving Zeus's lightning bolt,**_

Said god was still to busy mumbling threats against Argus to notice what was read.

_**or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble.**_

_**The more I thought about it, I resented Poseidon for never visiting me, never helping my mom, never even sending a lousy child-support check.**_

"Good that father is still unconscious or he would be sad." Theseus said while looking over at the puddle while the future demigods tried not to squirm in they seats as Percy stated how they often felt.

"Every demigod feels that from time to time because unlike in your time as we said not many know that they had an affair with a god or goddess and they feel as if the other left them because of the baby and unfortunately some take out that anger on the child." the gods looked shocked as did the past demigods while the Chases sunk further back in they seats. "Don't worry the gods now leave a number one can call, courtesy of the Hecate cabin, and someone of the older demigods goes and picks the child up if they parent doesn't want him or her and they get raised by they siblings." Sally explained before adding "Also dad now knows the ground why he couldn't be with his father and understands it."

"It is good to hear that you have found to help the young demigods who are still to little to defend themselves and give them a loving family." Hestia said and everyone agreed with her wholeheartedly, this sounded like a good thing to do.

_**He'd only claimed me because he needed a job done.**_

_**All I cared about was my mom. Hades had taken her unfairly and Hades was going to give her back.**_

"If only." Demeter mumbled and luckily had her daughter not heard her.

_**You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend, **__**the Oracle whispered in my mind. **__**You will fail to save what matters most in the end.**_

_**Shut up, **__**I told it.**_

Apollo wanted to be offended for his Oracle, but decided that it would do no good.

_**The rain kept coming down.**_

_**We got restless waiting for the bus and decided to play some Hacky Sack with one of Grover's apples. Annabeth was unbelievable.**_

_**She could bounce the apple off her knee, her elbow, her shoulder, whatever. I wasn't too bad myself.**_

Annabeth had a small smile on her lips.

_**The game ended when I tossed the apple toward Grover and it got too close to his mouth. In one mega goat bite, our Hacky Sack disappeared—core, stem, and all.**_

Everyone laughed at this.

_**Grover blushed. He tried to apologize, but Annabeth and I were too busy cracking up.**_

As was everyone in and out of the throne room.

"I'm really starting to love fauns." Trickster said while Felix leaned against him.

_**Finally the bus came. As we stood in line to board, Grover started looking around, sniffing the air like he smelled his favorite school cafeteria delicacy—enchiladas.**_

_**"What is it?" I asked.**_

_**"I don't know," he said tensely. "Maybe it's nothing."**_

_**But I could tell it wasn't nothing. I started looking over my shoulder, too.**_

_**I was relieved when we finally got on board and found seats together in the back of the bus. We stowed our back packs. Annabeth kept slapping her Yankees cap nervously against her thigh.**_

_**As the last passengers got on, Annabeth clamped her hand onto my knee.**_

Athena read this part testily as her daughter blushed under the gazes she was getting.

"Sorry grandmum, aunt Silena, Gwen and uncle Mitchell that was not meant like that, at least at that time." Mich called making the four mentioned people blush because of the honorific used for them, but at least Athena stopped scowling and the gazes turned away from a relieved Annabeth.

_**"Percy."**_

_**An old lady had just boarded the bus. She wore a crumpled velvet dress, lace gloves, and a shapeless orange-knit hat that shadowed her face, and she carried a big paisley purse. When she tilted her head up, her black eyes glittered, and my heart skipped a beat**_**.**

_**It was Mrs. Dodds. Older, more withered, but definitely the same evil face.**_

Everyone tensed at this in worry.

_**I scrunched down in my seat.**_

_**Behind her came two more old ladies: one in a green hat, one in a purple hat. Otherwise they looked exactly like Mrs. Dodds—same gnarled hands, paisley handbags, wrinkled velvet dresses. Triplet demon grandmothers.**_

Even if the situation sounded bad there were a few snickers and grins at the last sentence.

"He is good in making amusing comments in tense situations." Chris whispered to his bothers who nodded in agreement.

_**They sat in the front row, right behind the driver. The two on the aisle crossed their legs over the walkway, making an X. It was casual enough, but it sent a clear message: nobody leaves.**_

"Observant." Bellerophon said while looking at his brothers who nodded.

_**The bus pulled out of the station, and we headed through the slick streets of Manhattan. "She didn't stay dead long," I said, trying to keep my voice from quivering. "I thought you said they could be dispelled for a lifetime."**_

_**"I said if you're **__**lucky**__**," Annabeth said. "You're obviously not."**_

"That much is certain."

_**"All three of them," Grover whimpered.**__**"Di immortales!"**_

_**"It's okay," Annabeth said, obviously thinking hard. "The Furies. The three worst monsters from the Underworld. **_

Hades smiled proudly at this, the three would certainly love the compliment.

_**No problem. No problem. We'll just slip out the windows."**_

_**"They don't open," Grover moaned.**_

"Who designed that faulty device!" snapped Beckendorf, Jake and Mich together.

"I see the family resemblance." Dakota whispered to Gwen who tried not to giggle.

_**"A back exit?" she suggested.**_

_**There wasn't one. **_

The three builders started mumbling indignantly about bad constructions this time also joined in by they father/grandfather also while the others looked even more tense.

_**Even if there had been, it wouldn't have helped. By that time, we were on Ninth Avenue, heading for the Lincoln Tunnel.**_

_**"They won't attack us with witnesses around," I said. "Will they?"**_

_**"Mortals don't have good eyes," Annabeth reminded me. "Their brains can only process what they see through the Mist."**_

_**"They'll see three old ladies killing us, won't they?"**_

"Or giving you flowers." Malcolm added in, but shut up when noticing his sister's glare.

_**She thought about it. "Hard to say. But we can't count on mortals for help. Maybe an emergency exit in the roof ... ?"**_

_**We hit the Lincoln Tunnel, and the bus went dark except for the running lights down the aisle. It was eerily quiet without the sound of the rain.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds got up. In a flat voice, as if she'd rehearsed it, she announced to the whole bus: "I need to use the rest-room."**_

_**"So do I," said the second sister.**_

_**"So do I," said the third sister.**_

All eyes went respectively to the two Underworld monarchs and they descendants who all gave them raised eyebrows as the answer, it was not as if they tell those who work for them what to say now did they.

"Lady Athena." Misty called to the goddess who understood.

_**They all started coming down the aisle.**_

_**"I've got it," Annabeth said. "Percy, take my hat."**_

_**"What?"**_

_**"You're the one they want. Turn invisible and go up the aisle. Let them pass you. Maybe you can get to the front and get away."**_

"Sorry mom, you told this to the wrong person." Sally said _'Just like when you wanted him to let you fall alone into Tartaros.'_ she thought while biting back a shudder, but she could not think about that now it will be already enough when they reach the eight book.

_**"But you guys—"**_

_**"There's an outside chance they might not notice us," Annabeth said. "You're a son of one of the Big Three. Your smell might be overpowering."**_

_**"I can't just leave you."**_

"He is a loyal person." Andromeda whispered to her husband who nodded in agreement.

_**"Don't worry about us," Grover said. "Go!"**_

_**My hands trembled. I felt like a coward, but I took the Yankees cap and put it on.**_

_**When I looked down, my body wasn't there anymore.**_

The Stoll brothers dropped they grins when noticing the girls of they group glaring at them.

_**I started creeping up the aisle. I managed to get up ten rows, then duck into an empty seat just as the Furies walked past.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds stopped, **_

"Alecto always pays attention to her surroundings." Hades said there was a ground why her and Thanatos were his lieutenants.

_**sniffing, and looked straight at me. My heart was pounding.**_

"This is what I meant, but I think by that time had her sisters noticed the additional smalls and she will follow them." no one knew if this was now a good thing or a bad one.

_**Apparently she didn't see anything. She and her sisters kept going.**_

_**I was free. I made it to the front of the bus. We were almost through the Lincoln Tunnel now. I was about to press the emergency stop button when I heard hideous wailing from the back row.**_

They all settled for a bad thing.

_**The old ladies were not old ladies anymore. Their faces were still the same—I guess those couldn't get any uglier—**_

"Don't let them hear that." Persephone warned.

_**but their bodies had shriveled into leathery brown hag bodies with bat's wings and hands and feet like gargoyle claws. Their handbags had turned into fiery whips.**_

_**The Furies surrounded Grover and Annabeth, lashing their whips, hissing: "Where is it? Where?"**_

"Excuse me, I may understand that the existence of that young hero is not desired and something dangerous or the oath would not have been made, but it doesn't seem to be Lord Hades's style to refer to people as objects." Odysseus said thoughtfully.

"Does this mean that he really wants to overthrow me?" Zeus asked as he glared at Hades, but could not do anything because Persephone had pulled herself closer to her husband so that she was shielding him mostly and Demeter would be furious with him if he hurts her to get to his brother.

"How often do we need to tell you to read all the books and then judge and also that oath you took extends also to you hurting each other." Enysswe growled out and Athena continued reading, her father had really a tendency to get into fights with that girl and as long as she could not figure her out didn't she want to take risks. Lord Chaos was after all the beginner of all existence and Lady Nyx his lieutenant was both feared and respected by all while also being the only one who could control her daughters the Fates so it would not do any good in angering them.

_**The other people on the bus were screaming, cowering in their seats. They saw **__**something, **__**all right.**_

"I wonder what gave that away." Jason whispered to Odysseus.

_**"He's not here!" Annabeth yelled. "He's gone!"**_

_**The Furies raised their whips.**_

_**Annabeth drew her bronze knife. Grover grabbed a tin can from his snack bag and prepared to throw it.**_

_**What I did next was so impulsive and dangerous I should've been named ADHD poster child of the year.**_

Everyone leaned closer wanting to know what he did while Athena hoped that whatever it was as long as her daughter will be unharmed will she be fine with anything, it was also easier that Poseidon was still a puddle from shock.

_**The bus driver was distracted, trying to see what was going on in his rearview mirror.**_

_**Still invisible, I grabbed the wheel from him and jerked it to the left. Everybody howled as they were thrown to the right, and I heard what I hoped was the sound of three Furies smashing against the windows.**_

"They didn't appreciate it." Henry said.

_**"Hey!" the driver yelled. "Hey—whoa!"**_

_**We wrestled for the wheel. The bus slammed against the side of the tunnel, grinding metal, and throwing sparks a mile behind us.**_

_**We careened out of the Lincoln Tunnel and back into the rainstorm, people and monsters tossed around the bus, cars plowed aside like bowling pins.**_

"In other words just like when grandfather drives." Ace said as Ares grinned in agreement while both Hephaestus and Apollo nodded who needed to deal with the result of those drives.

_**Somehow the driver found an exit. We shot off the highway, through half a dozen traffic lights, and ended up barreling down one of those New Jersey rural roads where you can't believe there's so much nothing right across the river from New York. There were woods to our left, the Hudson River to our right, and the driver seemed to be veering toward the river.**_

"At least is it cleaner now then it was in the time of our parents." Misty whispered to Sally and Luke who both nodded.

_**Another great idea: I hit the emergency brake.**_

_**The bus wailed, spun a full circle on the wet asphalt, and crashed into the trees. The emergency lights came on. The door flew open. The bus driver was the first one out, the passengers yelling as they stampeded after him. I stepped into the driver's seat and let them pass.**_

"Which was probably a good idea seeing that you still had a problem." Orion said.

_**The Furies regained their balance. They lashed their whips at Annabeth while she waved her knife and yelled in Ancient Greek, telling them to back off. Grover threw tin cans.**_

_**I looked at the open doorway. I was free to go, but I couldn't leave my friends. I took off the invisible cap. "Hey!"**_

Everyone was to tense to comment.

_**The Furies turned, baring their yellow fangs at me, and the exit suddenly seemed like an excellent idea. Mrs. Dodds stalked up the aisle, just as she used to do in class, about to deliver my F- math test.**_

There were a few forced snickers at this.

_**Every time she flicked her whip, red flames danced along the barbed leather.**_

_**Her two ugly sisters hopped on top of the seats on either side of her and crawled toward me like huge nasty lizards.**_

_**"Perseus Jackson," Mrs. Dodds said, in an accent that was definitely from somewhere farther south than Georgia. "You have offended the gods. You shall die."**_

"Hey guy, how often did your dad already get that sentence till now?" Lance asked as he turned to the Jackson siblings who exchanged a glance with each other.

"Don't know, dad stopped counting after one hundred." Luke replied while they uncles groaned or like everyone else looked utterly perplexed.

_**"I liked you better as a math teacher," I told her.**_

"Dad kind of likes her better as a lawyer she is pretty good at both." Enysswe said to her group who all nodded.

_**She growled.**_

_**Annabeth and Grover moved up behind the Furies cautiously, looking for an opening.**_

_**I took the ballpoint pen out of my pocket and uncapped it. Riptide elongated into a shimmering double-edged sword.**_

_**The Furies hesitated.**_

"It seems as if Alecto had warned her siblings about the sword." Hades said while trying to calm his wife, her grip was kind of starting to hurt him.

_**Mrs. Dodds had felt Riptide's blade before. She obviously didn't like seeing it again.**_

"Understandable, if I got killed by a weapon would I also not be thrilled to see it again." Travis whispered to Connor who agreed with his brother.

_**"Submit now," she hissed. "And you will not suffer eternal torment."**_

_**"Nice try," I told her.**_

_**"Percy, look out!" Annabeth cried.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds lashed her whip around my sword hand while the Furies on the either side lunged at me.**_

Everyone tensed again in worry for the trio.

_**My hand felt like it was wrapped in molten lead, but I managed not to drop Riptide. I stuck the Fury on the left with its hilt, sending her toppling backward into a seat. I turned and sliced the Fury on the right. As soon as the blade connected with her neck, she screamed and exploded into dust. Annabeth got Mrs. Dodds in a wrestler's hold and yanked her backward while Grover ripped the whip out of her hands.**_

"Not the best idea uncle Grover." Enysswe said while shaking her head, she thought the whips made it obvious how it would feel holding them anywhere else then the hilt.

_**"Ow!" he yelled. "Ow! Hot! Hot!"**_

There were many flinched of sympathy for the brave little satyr.

_**The Fury I'd hilt-slammed came at me again, talons ready, but I swung Riptide and she broke open like a piñata.**_

_**Mrs. Dodds was trying to get Annabeth off her back. She kicked, clawed, hissed and bit, but Annabeth held on while Grover got Mrs. Dodds's legs tied up in her own whip. Finally they both shoved her backward into the aisle. Mrs. Dodds tried to get up, but she didn't have room to flap her bat wings, so she kept falling down.**_

_**"Zeus will destroy you!" she promised. "Hades will have your soul!"**_

"Well naturally I get the human souls of the dead which fall under our juridicism." Hades said while the children looked at him curiously.

"Lord Hades, what do you exactly mean by "_those who fall under our juridicism"_?" Annabeth asked, there was something to that statement which indicated that there were people who didn't land in the Underworld when they die.

"Aunt Annabeth, the Greek gods are not the only existing divinities as you saw by Rome who took over many gods from the people they concurred, some of those divinities still exist some closer then you may know." Enysswe said mysteriously while gesturing to Athena to read, leaving the demigods with a strange feeling in they stomachs.

_**"**__**Braccas meas vescimini**__**!" I yelled.**_

At this broke all Romans out laughing in amusement so that Sally needed to signal to her grandmother, while giggling, to continue and they will know.

_**I wasn't sure where the Latin came from.**_

_**I think it meant "Eat my pants!"**_

"It did." Octavian said while covering his mouth with his hand to hide the fact that he was also laughing.

"Sorry, what exactly are pants, they were mentioned some time ago." Theseus asked in confusion.

"That what most of us are wearing are called pants." Pollux said while gesturing to the cream coloured shorts he was wearing, the others doing the same.

"Ah." was the only reply, now he could see what was funny.

_**Thunder shook the bus. The hair rose on the back of my neck.**_

_**"Get out!" Annabeth yelled at me. "Now!" I didn't need any encouragement.**_

Athena's eyes started narrowing, they colour becoming like that of storm clouds by a hurricane.

_**We rushed outside and found the other passengers wandering around in a daze, arguing with the driver, or running around in circles yelling, "We're going to die!" A Hawaiian-shirted tourist with a camera snapped my photograph before I could recap my sword.**_

_**"Our bags!" Grover realized. "We left our—"**_

_**BOOOOOM**__**!**_

_**The windows of the bus exploded as the passengers ran for cover. Lightning shredded a huge crater in the roof,**_

Zeus flinched by the amount of angry looks he was receiving and it didn't help that his favourite daughter looked as if she would attack him any second, but luckily for him she continued reading in a tight, angry tone.

_**but an angry wail from inside told me Mrs. Dodds was not yet dead.**_

_**"Run!" Annabeth said. "She's calling for reinforcements! We have to get out of here!"**_

_**We plunged into the woods as the rain poured down, the bus in flames behind us, and nothing but darkness ahead.**_

"This was the end of the chapter." Athena said still angrily as she passed the book over to stunned Ares, but he didn't dare complain.

_To be continued…_


	12. You were saying Athena?

A/N: So here is the next chapter to the story and please don't think that I say this out of rudeness, but you know that I'm not forced to do these fics at all and post them up on this site. It gets bothersome if I need to point out that if one doesn't like what someone writes then they just leave the story and don't waste ones time with their complains. You don't like a pairing fine, there are some I also don't like in books, but I just skip over them if I like the story or just put the book away or close the fic. Also I think seeing from how far my OCs have come, one could say that the fic is also in some ways AU and that usually…why do I even explain? Most people don't even read these notes.

* * *

XII. You were saying Athena?

Looking down at the new chapter had Ares caught his father's look in the corner of his eyes as the older god signaled to him that he should immediately start reading.

"The next chapter is called…aw man, why do I get a boring chapter?" Ares groaned.

"Believe us grandfather, it will be anything, but a boring chapter." Ace told his grandfather who gave him a skeptical look.

"Really? The title _'_**_We Visit the Garden Gnome Emporium'_** isn't quiet what I consider as the title of an action filled chapter." Ares replied back.

"Though it certainly be one." Sally said while doing her best to not look at her grandmother. "A highly nerve thrilling one."

"We will see." Ares said as he started reading.

**_In a way, it's nice to know there are Greek gods out there,_**

"It is nice to know that we are appreciated." Apollo said grinning while his kids and the other demigods from the future looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"Sorry granddad, I doubt uncle Percy meant this sentence like that." Enysswe said to her grandfather.

"What do you mean?" Apollo asked blinking in confusion while Ares snorted.

"I got your answer right here Sunshine." he answered while his brother glared at him for the nickname.

**_because you have somebody to blame when things go wrong._**

At this looked the gods over at their squirming children who refused to look at them.

**_For instance, when you're walking away from a bus that's just been attacked by monster hags and blown up by lightning, and it's raining on top of everything else, most people might think that's just really bad luck;_**

Zeus flinched by the glared he got from his family and waved to his son that he should hurry up with continuing.

"You know, it is strange to hear about a quest where the most problematic attacks towards the demigod come not from the Queen, but her husband." Perseus whispered to Theseus who nodded gloomily seeing how it was his little brother Zeus wanted dead.

**_when you're a half-blood, you understand that some divine force really is trying to mess up your day._**

The legacies nodded at this as the gods kept glaring at their king while the demigods still looked uncomfortable.

**_So there we were, Annabeth and Grover and I, walking through the woods along the New Jersey riverbank, the glow of New York City making the night sky yellow behind us, and the smell of the Hudson reeking in our noses._**

**_Grover was shivering and braying, his big goat eyes turned slit-pupiled and full of terror._**

Both Hermes and Dionysus started growling at this while outside felt the other satyrs sympathy for their kinsman.

"Father." they both bit out in annoyance.

"You know, I now kind of can see that our dads are brothers." Travis whispered to Castor and Pollux who nodded carefully.

**_"Three Kindly Ones. All three at once."_**

**_I was pretty much in shock myself. The explosion of bus windows still rang in my ears. But Annabeth kept pulling us along, saying: "Come on! The farther away we get, the better."_**

"That plan worked well till the complications started." Sally said while looking at her side.

"What do you mean?" Athena asked her granddaughter, worried for her daughter whose younger version was also looking at the black haired girl.

"You will see." she said.

"I'm really starting to hate this sentence." Frank groaned while the others nodded in agreement with him.

"Patience is a virtue." Henry said which earned him more groans.

**_"All our money was back there," I reminded her. "Our food and clothes. Everything."_**

While Zeus covered in his throne from his family bit Annabeth back a groan, her first quest would start out just fantastic, but no problem not that Luke, Thalia and her had much as they made their way to Camp, she can wing the situation.

**_"Well, maybe if you hadn't decided to jump into the fight—"_**

"Annabeth." Malcolm said as he stared incredulously at his sister.

"You know that if he wouldn't have decided to jump into the fight you might have not made it, right?" Michael asked the blonde with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm probably only still under shock." she defended herself or tried to reassure herself, she was not sure which was correct.

**_"What did you want me to do? Let you get killed?"_**

The demigods had their gazes all on Annabeth who did her best to avoid them while farther back her father flinched at the thought about how close his daughter had been to death if not for the boy she would end up marrying.

"I hate to say it, but you can be grateful for that boy that he went back for you two." Athena said finally when she had turned away from her father; everyone could see that this was hard for her to admit.

**_"You didn't need to protect me, Percy. I would've been fine."_**

"Are you kidding?" Clarisse asked Annabeth incredulously while Malcolm only stared gapping at his sister as if he would see her for the first time.

"Annabeth, I know that you are a strong girl and had been the longest at camp, but there are times when no matter how good one is, they need the help of another." Lee said in an admonishing tone.

"I agree with Lee, that situation could have not been solved with only two people drawn into a corner." Reyna said as she looked over at Annabeth.

"Lord Ares, please continue." Annabeth said to escape from more scolding.

"Mom's fatal flaw is acting up." Luke whispered to his sister who nodded, their mom was great, brave, strong and intelligent, but rarely noticed when she needed the help of others if their dad was not near to remind her.

**_"Sliced like sandwich bread," Grover put in, "but fine."_**

"Yup, perfectly fine," Apollo said sarcastically while dodging a heavy stone plate thrown by Athena at him.

**_"Shut up, goat boy," said Annabeth._**

**_Grover brayed mournfully. "Tin cans ... a perfectly good bag of tin cans."_**

There were a few snickers at Grover's comment.

**_We sloshed across mushy ground, through nasty twisted trees that smelled like sour laundry._**

Everyone wrinkled their noses at hearing this.

**_After a few minutes, Annabeth fell into line next to me. "Look, I..." Her voice faltered. "I appreciate your coming back for us, okay? That was really brave."_**

"It really was." Annabeth said, it was kind of touching that no matter how she had behaved towards him since their first meeting, he still felt obliged to help her when she needed it.

"I need to agree on this." Artemis mumbled under her breath, the boy could have easily escaped, but he went back for his comrades, this was something she had rarely seen.

**_"We're a team, right?"_**

At this the legacies snorted which made everyone turn into their direction.

"Dad has just made one of the biggest understatement of the century." Luke said with a small crooked grin on his face.

"Yup, uncle Percy and aunt Annabeth are one of the most dangerous teams one can face in battle." Misty said making her aunt blush.

"Really, are there more such teams?" Trickster asked interested.

"Well, another pretty dangerous team will be mentioned in the fourth book also uncle Nico and aunt Hazel can be pretty dangerous if they fight together" Hades smiled proudly at this while Persephone snuggled closer to him. "Also the storm uncle Percy and dad can bring up is neat to see, but not fun to face" Nathan continued while his father blushed a bit at the compliment "also the current Big Three children can be quiet the force when all together as for other teams you will need to read the books to find out seeing that listing would take to long and we are still at the start of the first book."

"That is true, Ares please continue." Hera told her son who nodded his head before complying.

**_She was silent for a few more steps. "It's just that if you died ... aside from the fact that it would really suck for you, it would mean the quest was over. This may be my only chance to see the real world."_**

Aphrodite and her children groaned in despair.

"I'm starting to see why it took so long for them to get together." Silena said with a bowed head, her dark hair hiding her face.

**_The thunderstorm had finally let up. The city glow faded behind us, leaving us in almost total darkness. I couldn't see anything of Annabeth except a glint of her blond hair._**

**_"You haven't left Camp Half-Blood since you were seven?" I asked her._**

"Not that often." Annabeth said while Ares held back a groan, he saw no excitement in this chapter only a badly written soap opera Aphrodite loves to see, but decided that pointing this out would be not good for either his health or love life so he only continued reading dutifully.

**_"No ... only short field trips. My dad—"_**

Frederic perked up about Annabeth mentioning him, but she still refused to turn around, he didn't even notice Sue roll her eyes at his while the twins still shivered a bit from what they have heard in the last chapter.

**_"The history professor."_**

Frederic scowled a bit at this, but needed to remember that Annabeth never told the other his name so he picked the most known fact to address him as a person.

**_"Yeah. It didn't work out for me living at home. I mean, Camp Half-Blood _****_is _****_my home." _**

The made him slump back in his seat.

**_She was rushing her words out now, as if she were afraid somebody might try to stop her._**

**_"At camp you train and train. And that's all cool and everything, but the real world is where the monsters are. That's where you learn whether you're any good or not."_**

**_If I didn't know better, I could've sworn I heard doubt in her voice._**

"He is certainly observant for the small details which others would miss." Odysseus said as he looked over at his Lady who nodded her head gracefully at him, indicating that she agreed, even if it was reluctantly seeing which of the gods had fathered this observant hero.

**_"You're pretty good with that knife," I said._**

**_"You think so?"_**

**_"Anybody who can piggyback-ride a Fury is okay by me."_**

Annabeth blushed while some of the others started snickering at both the comment and at her reaction to it.

**_I couldn't really see, but I thought she might've smiled._**

"I probably had." Annabeth admitted, her blush still present.

**_"You know," she said, "maybe I should tell you ... Something funny back on the bus ..."_**

**_Whatever she wanted to say was interrupted by a shrill _****_toot-toot-toot, _****_like the sound of an owl being tortured._**

"WHAT!" Athena and her children yelled in shock at the thought of someone torturing an owl.

"Athena, no need to overreact and make us all deaf." Ares groaned before turning away from the glare she was giving him and looking down at the chapter. "Try letting me finish before you go overboard with your kids." he told her and started reading again.

**_"Hey, my reed pipes still work!" Grover cried._**

"See, it was only a satyr with terrible skills on a reed pipe." Ares told his sister while she glared at him, though that blush on her cheeks was kind of taking away from the intended effect.

Meanwhile the demigods only shook their heads at Grover.

**_"If I could just remember a 'find path' song, we could get out of these woods!"_**

**_He puffed out a few notes, but the tune still sounded suspiciously like Hilary Duff._**

At this a good deal of campers started snickering.

"Who is that?" asked Bellerophon from the demigods.

"She is an actress and singer in our time." explained Gwen who had listened to some of her songs when she had free time.

**_Instead of finding a path, I immediately slammed into a tree and got a nice-size knot on my head._**

There were some finches at this while Hermes, Artemis and Dionysus exchanged wide-eyed glances with each other.

"He certainly messed up that song." Hermes said eventually while the other two nodded, still stunned.

**_Add to the list of superpowers I did _****_not _****_have: infrared vision._**

"Sadly are those two who have got that." Lance said while he pointed at Enysswe and Henry.

"Lance, we don't have infrared vision, we only can see better in the dark then others that is all." Henry said and from his tone could everyone guess that they had this discussion a good few times before.

"That is what I call infrared vision." Lance said stubbornly.

"Just ignore them and continue." Ace told his grandfather who nodded his head.

**_After tripping and cursing and generally feeling miserable for another mile or so, _**

**_I started to see light up ahead: the colors of a neon sign. I could smell food. Fried, greasy, excellent food. I realized I hadn't eaten anything unhealthy since I'd arrived at Half-Blood Hill, where we lived on grapes, bread, cheese, and extra-lean-cut nymph-prepared barbecue. This boy needed a double cheeseburger._**

Those from the antique looked totally confuses about what that was while those from the future had dreamy looks in their eyes.

"First a soap and now food, this chapter is tormenting me." Ares mumbled under his breath before continuing so he failed to see the looks the legacies were exchanging with each other.

**_We kept walking until I saw a deserted two-lane road through the trees. On the other side was a closed-down gas station, a tattered billboard for a 1990s movie, and one open business, which was the source of the neon light and the good smell._**

"Why would anyone have an open shop in a completely deserted area?" Mitchell asked frowning.

"There is certainly something suspicious about that." Clarisse agreed, something was not right.

**_It wasn't a fast-food restaurant like I'd hoped. It was one of those weird roadside curio shops that sell lawn flamingos and wooden Indians and cement grizzly bears and stuff like that. The main building was a long, low warehouse, surrounded by acres of statuary. The neon sign above the gate was impossible for me to read, because if there's anything worse for my dyslexia than regular English, it's red cursive neon English._**

**_To me, it looked like:_**

Suddenly Ares stopped in his reading and was staring at the book strangely before holding it out farther from himself, then turned it to the side and finally upside down.

"Ares, what are you doing?" Zeus asked his son.

"He may need…"

"Not another word Demeter, you have Hermes and his diet now." Hades said, ignoring the panicked wine from his nephew.

"Ares?" Athena asked, she wanted to continue reading.

"I'm trying to decipher what is standing there." he said while showing it to Athena. "You try your luck." he told her.

"Fine, there stands…what is this unintelligent gibberish?" Athena asked in shock while Artemis whispered something to Apollo who nodded and picked up Hermes from his throne and brought him over to the two war gods and showed him the line which was making them so much trouble.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to get me the book?" he asked in annoyance, but read what stood there. "It says:** '****_ATNYU MES GDERAN GOMEN MEPROUIM._**_'_It is only the dyslexia, have seen worse on some of the delivery addresses." the god of messengers said with a shrug as he made his way back to his throne, closely followed by Apollo while Athena gave the book back to Ares.

**_"What the heck does that say?" I asked._**

**_"I don't know," Annabeth said._**

**_She loved reading so much, I'd forgotten she was dyslexic, too._**

"Most of us tend to forget by the Athena kids." Jake said as he grinned and both Malcolm and Annabeth who smiled back.

"Now it makes sense." Ares said suddenly as he saw the next line.

**_Grover translated: "Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium."_**

"Ah." come it from everyone.

**_Flanking the entrance, as advertised, were two cement garden gnomes, ugly bearded little runts, smiling and waving, as if they were about to get their picture taken._**

The legacies shuddered at this, this was just what they had thought before they become victims.

**_I crossed the street, following the smell of the hamburgers._**

**_"Hey ..." Grover warned._**

**_"The lights are on inside," Annabeth said. "Maybe it's open."_**

Everyone started to have a strange, unsettling feeling in their stomachs as Ares stared to realize that the kids were not joking when they said that this chapter would have some excitement in it.

**_"Snack bar," I said wistfully._**

**_"Snack bar," she agreed._**

"I don't like the sound of this." Trickster said frowning at the book.

**_"Are you two crazy?" Grover said. "This place is weird."_**

**_We ignored him._**

"You should listen to Grover." Beckendorf said nervously as his hands started tinkering much faster with the little machine in his hands.

"They are under an enchantment." Amphitrite gasped making Athena pale in worry while the queen was glad that Poseidon was still out cold.

"That is not good." Katie said worriedly.

**_The front lot was a forest of statues: cement animals, cement children, even a cement satyr playing the pipes, which gave Grover the creeps._**

Perseus had suddenly a bitter feeling in his mouth after those lines when he suddenly remembered how fast Sally had given up last chapter her argument about what she did to that priestess with whom Lord Po…

"Perseus, are you alright you look about ready to pass out." Andromeda whispered worriedly to her husband who looked not only close to fainting, but also to hyperventilating.

"I…I will be fine, hopefully after this chapter." he said with a forced smile, great Theseus will not be the only one reliving bad memories thanks to these books, his cousin seems to be about to really meet each beast a Greek Hero had fought.

**_"Bla-ha-ha!" _****_he bleated. "Looks like my Uncle Ferdinand!"_**

"Why do I not like this comment?" Dakota asked in a shaking tone.

"Because none of us like it." Gwen answered back in a faint tone.

**_We stopped at the warehouse door._**

**_"Don't knock," Grover pleaded. "I smell monsters."_**

**_"Your nose is clogged up from the Furies," Annabeth told him._**

"Definitely an enchantment and a strong one at that, it may be the food." Persephone said as the tension in and outside the palace rose as everyone waited worriedly how the young heroes will get out of this.

**_"All I smell is burgers. Aren't you hungry?"_**

**_"Meat!" he said scornfully. "I'm a vegetarian."_**

**_"You eat cheese enchiladas and aluminum cans," I reminded him._**

"I don't know what those are, but for satyrs they count as vegetables." Dionysus said while the demigods nodded dumbfounded.

**_"Those are vegetables._**

The wine god nodded at the confirmation of his earlier statement.

**_Come on. Let's leave. These statues are ... looking at me."_**

**_Then the door creaked open, and standing in front of us was a tall Middle Eastern woman—at least, I assumed she was Middle Eastern, because she wore a long black gown that covered everything but her hands, and her head was completely veiled. Her eyes glinted behind a curtain of black gauze, but that was about all I could make out. Her coffee-colored hands looked old, but well-manicured and elegant, so I imagined she was a grandmother who had once been a beautiful lady._**

"Yes, she had been once really beautiful." Sally whispered to the others as she tried to not send and accusing look at her grandmother for creating that creature.

**_Her accent sounded vaguely Middle Eastern, too. She said, "Children, it is too late to be out all alone. Where are your parents?"_**

**_"They're ... um ..." Annabeth started to say._**

**_"We're orphans," I said._**

"You should have made up a cover story before knocking." Connor said to Annabeth in a serious tone.

**_"Orphans?" the woman said. The word sounded alien in her mouth. "But, my dears! Surely not!"_**

**_"We got separated from our caravan," I said. "Our circus caravan._**

"And better not let him suggest the cover story." Travis added in to his brother's earlier comment.

**_The ringmaster told us to meet him at the gas station if we got lost, but he may have forgotten, or maybe he meant a different gas station. Anyway, we're lost. Is that food I smell?"_**

By this time had Hermes, his children and grandchildren already face-palmed themselves at the ridicilousity of that story.

**_"Oh, my dears," the woman said. "You must come in, poor children. I am Aunty Em. Go straight through to the back of the warehouse, please. There is a dining area."_**

"She believed that?" Chris asked incredulously.

"If that is the monster then she would have even let them in if they told her that they were fairies." Octavian said in a nervous tone, something about those statues made him think.

**_We thanked her and went inside._**

**_Annabeth muttered to me, "Circus caravan?"_**

**_"Always have a strategy, right?"_**

**_"Your head is full of kelp."_**

"Not the time for pet-names." Silena said desperately, she wanted them out of there, but they must be still enchanted to not sense the danger.

**_The warehouse was filled with more statues—people in all different poses, wearing all different outfits and with different expressions on their faces. I was thinking you'd have to have a pretty huge garden to fit even one of these statues, because they were all life-size. But mostly, I was thinking about food._**

**_Go ahead, call me an idiot for walking into a strange lady's shop like that just because I was hungry,_**

"Well, with the enchantment would it have been hard to resist." Orion said, but he was worried about his little brother who got himself again into trouble.

"Perseus, are you alright?" Theseus asked when he saw that his cousin had gone deadly pale and was about to do the same to the couch as he did by the chapter about the…suddenly he stared with wide eyes at the other. "Yo…you know what it is." he whispered in fear as the other nodded, but did not say anything.

**_but I do impulsive stuff sometimes. Plus, you've never smelled Aunty Em's burgers. The aroma was like laughing gas in the dentist's chair—it made everything else go away._**

"Then the source is really the food." Athena said in a faint tone while Sue felt at least some relief that her two sons started muttering that they will never accept any food from a stranger, at least have these books some good part to them.

**_I barely noticed Grover's nervous whimpers, or the way the statues' eyes seemed to follow me, or the fact that Aunty Em had locked the door behind us._**

The demigods clustered closer to Annabeth who was glad about their closeness while her mother had grabbed Ares's arm who continued to read, but one could see the slightly pained look on his face because of her mother's hard grip on his arm.

**_All I cared about was finding the dining area. And sure enough, there it was at the back of the warehouse, a fast-food counter with a grill, a soda fountain, a pretzel heater, and a nacho cheese dispenser. Everything you could want, plus a few steel picnic tables out front._**

**_"Please, sit down," Aunty Em said._**

**_"Awesome," I said._**

**_"Um," Grover said reluctantly, "we don't have any money, ma'am."_**

**_Before I could jab him in the ribs, Aunty Em said, "No, no, children. No money. This is a special case, yes? It is my treat, for such nice orphans."_**

**_"Thank you, ma'am," Annabeth said._**

**_Aunty Em stiffened, as if Annabeth had done something wrong, _**

Perseus was breathing hard, he got now his confirmation it was her and this time was she wide awake.

**_but then the old woman relaxed just as quickly, so I figured it must've been my imagination._**

"Unfortunately not." Perseus said which made everyone look at him strangely.

"You will soon know." Sally said as she looked over at her father's namesake.

**_"Quite all right, Annabeth," she said._**

"If they know your name without you telling them or them being a relative or a person who could know your name then it is a monster." Castor said nervously as he gripped his twin's hand.

"Grandmother." Sally suddenly spoke up earning herself Athena's attention.

"Yes Sally?" she asked in a nervous tone.

"I reopen my case in the debate we started last chapter." she said and gestured for Ares to continue while her grandmother looked at her in confusion while Artemis, Persephone, Hades, Hestia and Hera tensed.

**_"You have such beautiful gray eyes, child."_**

Athena narrowed her eyes at this, she had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach.

**_Only later did I wonder how she knew Annabeth's name, even though we had never introduced ourselves._**

**_Our hostess disappeared behind the snack counter and started cooking. Before we knew it, she'd brought us plastic trays heaped with double cheeseburgers, vanilla shakes, and XXL servings of French fries._**

No one reacted at the delicious food list, they were all busy praying that the three get out of there without getting hurt.

**_I was halfway through my burger before I remembered to breathe._**

**_Annabeth slurped her shake._**

**_Grover picked at the fries, and eyed the tray's waxed paper liner as if he might go for that, but he still looked too nervous to eat._**

"With good ground." Clarisse growled, the situation was bad, those two needed to snap out of it and they needed to do that soon.

"What's that hissing noise?" he asked.

"Hissing noise?" asked Athena, looking at the demigods, but no one answered her.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Perseus said and he really did look green in the face.

"Is your stomach hurting dad?" Perses asked his father worriedly who offered his son a weak smile.

"It is more like bad memories." he said while continuing to grip the couch as those sitting with him started going over the monsters the other had fought before stiffening and the present three sons of Poseidon jumped up from their seats with ashen faces.

"GET IMEDIATELY OUT OF THERE!" they yelled in panic.

"You know what i…"

"Grandfather, please continue." Ace said before anyone could ask what the monster was.

**_I listened, but didn't hear anything. Annabeth shook her head._**

**_"Hissing?" Aunty Em asked. "Perhaps you hear the deep-fryer oil. You have keen ears, Grover."_**

**_"I take vitamins. For my ears."_**

**_"That's admirable," she said. "But please, relax."_**

**_Aunty Em ate nothing. She hadn't taken off her head dress, even to cook, and now she sat forward and interlaced her fingers and watched us eat. It was a little unsettling, having someone stare at me when I couldn't see her face, _**

"Be happy that you don't see it." Perseus said with a shudder while some of the demigods stared at him in realization.

"I share the sentiment of Percy's siblings, get out of there." Lee said while Clarisse, Will, Katie, Reyna, Jay and Octavian also nodded their heads vehemently.

Malcolm stared at them nervously as he tried to figure out what his sister will be facing, he was sure that he knew which monster it was, but it just didn't want to come to him. This was when he felt Mitchell again trail a message on the back of his hand, it were only two letters, but they gave him the feeling as if he would be suffocating. This just could not be happening! '_Me'_

**_but I was feeling satisfied after the burger, and a little sleepy, and I figured the least I could do was try to make small talk with our hostess._**

"Don't talk, but get out of there." those who knew what that monster was yelled.

**_"So, you sell gnomes," I said, trying to sound interested._**

**_"Oh, yes," Aunty Em said. "And animals. And people. Anything for the garden. Custom orders. Statuary is very popular, you know."_**

**_"A lot of business on this road?"_**

**_"Not so much, no. Since the highway was built... most cars, they do not go this way now. I must cherish every customer I get."_**

"The first time that I find something which destroys nature a good thing." Katie whispered to Will who nodded grimly.

**_My neck tingled, as if somebody else was looking at me. I turned, but it was just a statue of a young girl holding an Easter basket. _**

**_The detail was incredible, much better than you see in most garden statues._**

**_But something was wrong with her face. It looked as if she were startled, or even terrified._**

Athena suddenly gasped in horror as did the others who also finally found out who she was.

"N…no…thi…this can't be…" Athena stammered in panic.

"I told you that you went overboard grandmother." Sally said in a flat tone and Athena needed to nod reluctantly, now she understood why she had given up so easily on the debate, because her mother had meet the monster she had set into the world.

"I think we will really need to go over to punish people who offend us in which we turn them into plants." Hermes whispered to Apollo who nodded.

**_"Ah," Aunty Em said sadly. "You notice some of my creations do not turn out well. They are marred. They do not sell. The face is the hardest to get right. Always the face."_**

**_"You make these statues yourself?" I asked._**

Everyone nodded shuddering while Athena had gone over to Annabeth and was now hugging her daughter.

**_"Oh, yes. Once upon a time, I had two sisters to help me in the business, but they have passed on, and Aunty Em is alone. I have only my statues. This is why I make them, you see. They are my company." The sadness in her voice sounded so deep and so real that I couldn't help feeling sorry for her._**

"Dad is the only one who can feel sad for a monster." Luke mumbled to himself.

**_Annabeth had stopped eating. She sat forward and said, "Two sisters?"_**

**_"It's a terrible story," Aunty Em said. "Not one for children, really. You see, Annabeth, a bad woman was jealous of me, _**

"I was not jealous!" Athena yelled as she glared at the puddle on the throne. "Poseidon, get up and talk to that delusional bimbo that I was not in any way jealous!" she yelled at the spot of water while others were unsure if the should tell her that Medusa was in the book and not here in person, but decided that it would be healthier if they don't point it out to her.

**_long ago, when I was young._****_I had a... a boyfriend, _**

"Only lover." Amphitrite huffed, she might go out and find this monster and turn her into something with less dangerous powers.

**_you know, and this bad woman was determined to break us apart._**

"YOU WERE ACTING LIKE CANICLES IN SPRING IN MY TEMPLE, OF COURSE I WOULD BREAK THAT UP!" Athena yelled furiously while all present children of the Sea God blushed, they didn't need to imagine that.

**_She caused a terrible accident._**

"If you call a curse a 'terrible accident' then the gods were quiet accident prone in their days." Misty whispered to the others.

**_My sisters stayed by me. They shared my bad fortune as long as they could, but eventually they passed on. They faded away. I alone have survived, but at a price. Such a price."_**

**_I wasn't sure what she meant, but I felt bad for her._**

**_My eyelids kept getting heavier, my full stomach making me sleepy. Poor old lady. Who would want to hurt somebody so nice?_**

"You should have used a more restricted curse which would not have given her dangerous powers beside a hideous look." Artemis told her still worried and sheeting sister who was still hugging her daughter.

**_"Percy?" Annabeth was shaking me to get my attention. "Maybe we should go. I mean, the ringmaster will be waiting."_**

**_She sounded tense. I wasn't sure why. Grover was eating the waxed paper off the tray now, but if Aunty Em found that strange, she didn't say anything._**

"She is used to it." Jay said.

**_"Such beautiful gray eyes," Aunty Em told Annabeth again. "My, yes, it has been a long time since I've seen gray eyes like those."_**

**_She reached out as if to stroke Annabeth's cheek, but Annabeth stood up abruptly._**

"Get your filthy hand off of my daughter." Athena growled threateningly.

**_"We really should go."_**

**_"Yes!" Grover swallowed his waxed paper and stood up. "The ringmaster is waiting! Right!"_**

**_I didn't want to leave. I felt full and content. Aunty Em was so nice. I wanted to stay with her a while._**

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" screamed a good deal of people.

**_"Please, dears," Aunty Em pleaded. "I so rarely get to be with children. Before you go, won't you at least sit for a pose?"_**

**_"A pose?" Annabeth asked warily._**

**_"A photograph. I will use it to model a new statue set._****_Children are so popular, you see. Everyone loves children."_**

**_Annabeth shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I don't think we can, ma'am. Come on, Percy—"_**

**_"Sure we can," I said._**

**_I was irritated with Annabeth for being so bossy, so rude to an old lady who'd just fed us for free. "It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?"_**

"Look around and you will see what the harm is." Triton said in a nervous tone while he tried to ignore the fact that his mother was close to breaking his arm.

**_"Yes, Annabeth," the woman purred. "No harm."_**

**_I could tell Annabeth didn't like it, but she allowed Aunty Em to lead us back out the front door, into the garden of statues._**

**_Aunty Em directed us to a park bench next to the stone satyr. _**

**_"Now," she said, "I'll just position you correctly. The young girl in the middle, I think, and the two young gentlemen on either side."_**

**_"Not much light for a photo," I remarked._**

**_"Oh, enough," Aunty Em said. "Enough for us to see each other, yes?"_**

**_"Where's your camera?" Grover asked._**

**_Aunty Em stepped back, as if to admire the shot. "Now, the face is the most difficult. Can you smile for me please, everyone? A large smile?"_**

**_Grover glanced at the cement satyr next to him, and mumbled, "That sure does look like Uncle Ferdinand."_**

**_"Grover," Aunty Em chastised, "look this way, dear."_**

The tension started to turn suffocating as everyone fixated their nervous looks at the book in Ares's hand.

**_She still had no camera in her hands._**

**_"Percy—" Annabeth said._**

**_Some instinct warned me to listen to Annabeth, _**

Everyone was too nervous to comment on that or to tease Annabeth who was now clinging to her mother.

**_but I was fighting the sleepy feeling, the comfortable lull that came from the food and the old lady's voice._**

**_"I will just be a moment," Aunty Em said. "You know, I can't see you very well in this cursed veil..."_**

**_"Percy, something's wrong," Annabeth insisted._**

**_"Wrong?" Aunty Em said, reaching up to undo the wrap around her head. "Not at all, dear. I have such noble company tonight. What could be wrong?"_**

**_"That _****_is _****_Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover gasped._**

**_"Look away from her!" Annabeth shouted. She whipped her Yankees cap onto her head and vanished. Her invisible hands pushed Grover and me both off the bench._**

**_I was on the ground, looking at Aunt Em's sandaled feet._**

**_I could hear Grover scrambling off in one direction, Annabeth in another. But I was too dazed to move._**

Cue groans and the sound of ripping textile as now also Perseus got through on the couch.

**_Then I heard a strange, rasping sound above me. My eyes rose to Aunty Em's hands, which had turned gnarled and warty, with sharp bronze talons for fingernails._**

**_I almost looked higher, but somewhere off to my left Annabeth screamed, "No! Don't!"_**

**_More rasping—the sound of tiny snakes, right above me, from ... from about where Aunty Em's head would be._**

**_"Run!" Grover bleated. I heard him racing across the gravel, yelling, _****_"Maia!" _****_to kick-start his flying sneakers._**

**_I couldn't move. I stared at Aunty Em's gnarled claws, and tried to fight the groggy trance the old woman had put me in._**

"Good," Perseus said, "fight the trance."

**_"Such a pity to destroy a handsome young face," she told me soothingly. "Stay with me, Percy. All you have to do is look up."_**

**_I fought the urge to obey. Instead I looked to one side and saw one of those glass spheres people put in gardens— a gazing ball. I could see Aunty Em's dark reflection in the orange glass; her headdress was gone, revealing her face as a shimmering pale circle. Her hair was moving, writhing like serpents._**

**_Aunty Em._**

**_Aunty "M."_**

**_How could I have been so stupid?_**

**_Think, I told myself. How did Medusa die in the myth?_**

"Yes, try to remember it." Jay said, he needed to remember to know how to beat her.

**_But I couldn't think. Something told me that in the myth Medusa had been asleep when she was attacked by my namesake, Perseus._**

"Unfortunately is she now awake."

"APOLLO/DAD/GRANDFATHER/LORD APOLLO!"

"Sorry."

**_She wasn't anywhere near asleep now. If she wanted, she could take those talons right now and rake open my face._**

**_"The Gray-Eyed One did this to me, Percy," Medusa said, and she didn't sound anything like a monster. Her voice invited me to look up, to sympathize with a poor old grandmother. "Annabeth's mother, the cursed Athena, turned me from a beautiful woman into this."_**

"Athena, I know that you were offended, but in the end were you the one who had created this monster." Amphitrite said in a serious voice as she locked eyes with the wisdom goddess who nodded regretfully, she was currently experiencing what Poseidon had felt when his son was faced with a monster he had let be born, the Minotaur.

**_"Don't listen to her!" Annabeth's voice shouted, somewhere in the statuary. "Run, Percy!"_**

**_"Silence!" Medusa snarled. Then her voice modulated back to a comforting purr. "You see why I must destroy the girl, Percy. She is my enemy's daughter._****_I shall crush her statue to dust. But you, dear Percy, you need not suffer."_**

Athena was close to hyperventilating when suddenly found Annabeth herself holding a ball made with a swirling warm breeze in it filled with owl feathers which had the smell of olives.

Great, the pressure had been to much on her mother.

**_"No," I muttered. I tried to make my legs move._**

**_"Do you really want to help the gods?" Medusa asked. "Do you understand what awaits you on this foolish quest, Percy? What will happen if you reach the Underworld? Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. _**

**_You would be better off as a statue. Less pain. Less pain."_**

**_"Percy!" Behind me, I heard a buzzing sound, like a two-hundred-pound hummingbird in a nosedive. Grover yelled, "Duck!"_**

**_I turned, and there he was in the night sky, flying in from twelve o'clock with his winged shoes fluttering, Grover, holding a tree branch the size of a baseball bat. His eyes were shut tight, his head twitched from side to side. He was navigating by ears and nose alone._**

**_"Duck!" he yelled again. "I'll get her!"_**

**_That finally jolted me into action. Knowing Grover, I was sure he'd miss Medusa and nail me._**

"Good thought dad, unfortunately not by that baseball game three years ago." Luke said as he remembered when they had made a friendly tournament between all three Camps and the Hunters.

"We will run when Grover comes near us while swinging something." Travis whispered to his brother who nodded.

**_I dove to one side._**

**_Thwack!_**

**_At first I figured it was the sound of Grover hitting a tree. Then Medusa roared with rage._**

The demigods cheered at this.

**_"You miserable satyr," she snarled. "I'll add you to my collection!"_**

**_"That was for Uncle Ferdinand!" Grover yelled back._**

**_I scrambled away and hid in the statuary while Grover swooped down for another pass._**

**_Ker-whack!_**

**_"Arrgh!" Medusa yelled, her snake-hair hissing and spitting._**

**_Right next to me, Annabeth's voice said, "Percy!"_**

**_I jumped so high my feet nearly cleared a garden gnome. "Jeez! Don't do that!"_**

"Cheer up dad, in the future will you be only having such experiences when uncle Nico visits with En." Sally said grinning, but then added as an afterthought "This is kind of the ground why our house has a shadowy corner completely devoid of anything and we never get to close to it or it might lead to some accidents."

**_Annabeth took off her Yankees cap and became visible. "You have to cut her head off."_**

**_"What? Are you crazy? _****_Let's get out of here."_**

**_"Medusa is a menace. She's evil. I'd kill her myself, but..." Annabeth swallowed, as if she were about to make a difficult admission. _**

**_"But you've got the better weapon. Besides, I'd never get close to her. She'd slice me to bits because of my mother. You—you've got a chance."_**

**_"What? I can't—"_**

**_"Look, do you want her turning more innocent people into statues?"_**

**_She pointed to a pair of statue lovers, a man and a woman with their arms around each other, turned to stone by the monster._**

"That was a low blow to get him to do it." Chris told Annabeth who was still holding the ball which was her mother.

"I can't know what I will do in the future." she told him.

**_Annabeth grabbed a green gazing ball from a nearby pedestal. "A polished shield would be better." _**

**_She studied the sphere critically. "The convexity will cause some distortion. The reflection's size should be off by a factor of—"_**

"Annabeth, not the time." Katie told her friend who blushed.

**_"Would you speak English?"_**

**_"I _****_am!" _****_She tossed me the glass ball._**

**_"Just look at her in the glass. _****_Never _****_look at her directly."_**

**_"Hey, guys!" Grover yelled somewhere above us. "I think she's unconscious!"_**

**_"Roooaaarrr!"_**

"She is kind of loud for a person who is out cold." Connor said in an attempt to raise the mood somewhat, but the others ignored him.

**_"Maybe not," Grover corrected. _**

**_He went in for another pass with the tree branch._**

**_"Hurry," Annabeth told me. "Grover's got a great nose, but he'll eventually crash."_**

The demigods nodded while somewhat under their worry and panic were the Romans really impressed that a faun would act so bravely in a fight against a monster to help.

**_I took out my pen and uncapped it. The bronze blade of Riptide elongated in my hand._**

**_I followed the hissing and spitting sounds of Medusa's hair._**

**_I kept my eyes locked on the gazing ball so I would only glimpse Medusa's reflection, not the real thing. Then, in the green tinted glass, I saw her._**

**_Grover was coming in for another turn at bat, but this time he flew a little too low. Medusa grabbed the stick and pulled him off course. He tumbled through the air and crashed into the arms of a stone grizzly bear with a painful "Ummphh!"_**

Everybody flinched in sympathy for Grover.

"That is an experience I never wish to have." Trickster said shuddering, that will certainly hurt for a while.

**_Medusa was about to lunge at him when I yelled, "Hey!"_**

**_I advanced on her, which wasn't easy, holding a sword and a glass ball. If she charged, I'd have a hard time defending myself._**

**_But she let me approach—twenty feet, ten feet._**

At this looked some confused, usually monsters never let a demigod approach them so close, if they were not under a spell from the monster.

"She is doing this because Percy looks like a younger version of his father." Persephone said in realization.

"Awww…she is still in love with Poseidon." Aphrodite cooed before she was doused in cold water, courtesy of the Queen of the Seas.

"Don't you dare bring that up, I'm fine if he will still pine after Percy's mother, but I won't allow any more exes getting into our lives." she said in a threatening tone to the love goddess.

**_I could see the reflection of her face now. Surely it wasn't really _****_that _****_ugly. The green swirls of the gazing ball must be distorting it, making it look worse._**

"Uh…sorry Percy, but it is quiet the opposite, those swirls make her look better." Perseus said carefully.

"As said, grandmother went overboard on that day." Sally said while shaking her head as she looked at the ball of swirling feathers in the lap of her mother's younger version.

"Nice to know." Felix said faintly.

**_"You wouldn't harm an old woman, Percy," she crooned. "I know you wouldn't."_**

**_I hesitated, fascinated by the face I saw reflected in the glass—the eyes that seemed to burn straight through the green tint, making my arms go weak._**

**_From the cement grizzly, Grover moaned, "Percy, don't listen to her!"_**

**_Medusa cackled. "Too late."_**

**_She lunged at me with her talons._**

**_I slashed up with my sword, heard a sickening _****_shlock!,_****_ then a hiss like wind rushing out of a cavern—the sound of a monster disintegrating._**

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this, the danger was finally over.

**_Something fell to the ground next to my foot. It took all my willpower not to look. I could feel warm ooze soaking into my sock, little dying snake heads tugging at my shoelaces._**

"Eeuuwww…" come if from Aphrodite and her children while Malcolm was intently staring at the disgusted looking brunette beside him, he couldn't help it Mitchell was one minute acting like a typical child of the love goddess and in the next he makes really intelligent notices about the things which stand in the books, he even figured out that they were facing Medusa before him. He really had no clue what to think about the other, but they had other things to discuss tonight, which he hoped would turn out as false, but he feared that he was correct.

**_"Oh, yuck," Grover said. His eyes were still tightly closed, but I guess he could hear the thing gurgling and steaming. "Mega-yuck."_**

**_Annabeth came up next to me, her eyes fixed on the sky. She was holding Medusa's black veil. She said, "Don't move."_**

**_Very, very carefully, without looking down, she knelt and draped the monster's head in black cloth, then picked it up. It was still dripping green juice._**

"Two spoils of war from two mayor monsters, not bad boy." Ares said grinning like a maniac before continuing, this chapter turned out not as boring as he had thought.

**_"Are you okay?" she asked me, her voice trembling._**

**_"Yeah," I decided, though I felt like throwing up my double cheeseburger. _**

**_"Why didn't ... why didn't the head evaporate?"_**

**_"Once you sever it, it becomes a spoil of war," she said. "Same as your minotaur horn. But don't unwrap the head. It can still petrify you."_**

Perseus nodded at this agreeing, this was a good advice.

**_Grover moaned as he climbed down from the grizzly statue. _**

**_He had a big welt on his forehead. His green Rasta cap hung from one of his little goat horns, and his fake feet had been knocked off his hooves. The magic sneakers were flying aimlessly around his head._**

"He will be having a mayor headache." Connor said.

**_"The Red Baron," I said. "Good job, man."_**

**_He managed a bashful grin. "That really was _****_not _****_fun, though. Well, the hitting-her-with-a-stick part, that was fun. _****_But crashing into a concrete bear? _****_Not _****_fun."_**

"Agreed."

**_He snatched his shoes out of the air. I recapped my sword. Together, the three of us stumbled back to the warehouse._**

**_We found some old plastic grocery bags behind the snack counter and double-wrapped Medusa's head. We plopped it on the table where we'd eaten dinner and sat around it, too exhausted to speak._**

**_Finally I said, "So we have Athena to thank for this monster?"_**

**_Annabeth flashed me an irritated look. "Your dad, actually. Don't you remember? Medusa was Poseidon's girlfriend. They decided to meet in my mother's temple. _**

**_That's why Athena turned her into a monster. Medusa and her two sisters who had helped her get into the temple, they became the three gorgons. That's why Medusa wanted to slice me up, but she wanted to preserve you as a nice statue. She's still sweet on your dad._**

"That still means that she was Athena's work and the last part, I could have lived with hearing it only once from Aphrodite." Hera said shuddering.

**_You probably reminded her of him."_**

**_My face was burning. "Oh, so now it's _****_my _****_fault we met Medusa."_**

**_Annabeth straightened. In a bad imitation of my voice, she said: "'It's just a photo, Annabeth. What's the harm?'"_**

**_"Forget it," I said. "You're impossible."_**

**_"You're insufferable."_**

**_"You're—"_**

"I can see why this took five years." Silena groaned again.

"D, I think you will be pretty busy curing the Aphrodite kids from insanity." Hermes whispered to his brother who tried not to groan at the prospect.

**_"Hey!" Grover interrupted. "You two are giving me a migraine, and satyrs don't even _****_get _****_migraines. What are we going to do with the head?"_**

**_I stared at the thing. One little snake was hanging out of a hole in the plastic. The words printed on the side of the bag said: WE APPRECIATE YOUR BUSINESS!_**

**_I was angry, not just with Annabeth or her mom, but with all the gods for this whole quest, for getting us blown off the road and in two major fights the very first day out from camp. At this rate, we'd never make it to L.A. alive, much less before the summer solstice._**

**_What had Medusa said?_**

**_Do not be a pawn of the Olympians, my dear. You would be better off as a statue._**

**_I got up. "I'll be back."_**

"What is he doing?" Michael asked in confusion.

"Something which is still a major tale on Olymphos and if you mention it half of the council cracks up at the memory while great-grandfather Zeus looks as if he would explode any second, but only screams _'Perseus Jackson'._" Lance explained laughing, this was one of his grandfather's favourite stories to tell.

**_"Percy," Annabeth called after me. "What are you—"_**

**_I searched the back of the warehouse until I found Medusa's office. Her account book showed her six most recent sales, all shipments to the Underworld to decorate Hades and Persephone's garden. _**

Everyone looked over at the two rulers of the Underworld.

"They kind of fit well with grandmother's first garden in the front of the palace." Enysswe said at which everyone turned to her.

"First garden?" Persephone asked her granddaughter.

"Yep, seeing how dad is most of the time busy helping grandfather out in the Underworld are my mothers also down there and we figured out that mom's presence can get also normal plants to grow down there so you got a second garden further inside one of the palace gardens." En explained to her now really happy grandmother who jumped down from her husband's lap and hugged a furiously blushing Will before returning to her sitting place.

"Wonderful news." Demeter mumbled to herself in annoyance before flashing a dark look towards Zeus who did his best to ignore her.

_**According to one freight bill, the Underworld's billing address was DOA Recording Studios, West Hollywood, California. I folded up the bill and stuffed it in my pocket.**_

"Good idea," Odysseus said approvingly.

**_In the cash register I found twenty dollars, a few golden drachmas, and some packing slips for Hermes Overnight Express, each with a little leather bag attached for coins. I rummaged around the rest of the office until I found the right-size box._**

**_I went back to the picnic table, packed up Medusa's head, and filled out a delivery slip:_**

Everyone who didn't know what would happen looked in confusion at the book when Ares suddenly broke out laughing.

"That demigod has guts, that I will certainly give him." he said with a wicked grin as he imagined all the chaos that will break loose when they get that package.

**_The Gods_**

**_Mount Olympus_**

**_600th Floor,_**

**_Empire State Building_**

**_New York, NY_**

**_With best wishes,_**

**_PERCY JACKSON_**

There was a few seconds stunned silence before a good deal of the gods broke out yelling about such behaviour, Hades watching his family in amusement while the demigods were interrogating the legacies how Percy was still alive after such a stunt. Meanwhile on the outside of the palace were the other guest more busy with laughing as they imagined the various reactions to the delivery, then be offended by it.

It took everyone a good twenty minutes to calm down and continue reading the rest of the chapter.

**_"They're not going to like that," Grover warned. "They'll think you're impertinent."_**

**_I poured some golden drachmas in the pouch. As soon as I closed it, there was a sound like a cash register. The package floated off the table and disappeared with a _****_pop!_**

**_"I _****_am _****_impertinent," I said._**

"That he certainly is." Pollux said in a dazed tone.

**_I looked at Annabeth, daring her to criticize._**

**_She didn't. She seemed resigned to the fact that I had a major talent for ticking off the gods._**

"He's a natural at that." chorused the legacies grinning while some of the others groaned.

**_"Come on," she muttered. "We need a new plan."_**

"So this is the end of the chapter." Ares said as he put a red feather into the book to mark where they had left of.

"So we should now all have dinner and then retire for the night." Hera said as she stood up from her throne.

"What should I do with mom?" Annabeth asked unsure as she gazed down at the feathered ball when Ares approached her.

"Give her to me, our temples are close together and I will take her home." Annabeth reluctantly agreed and handed her mother over to the god.

"Also, could I please get a bucked and some fabric to gather my husband together?" Amphitrite asked as she stood beside the throne of her husband and he water spot on it.

_To be continued…_


	13. Nightly talks and pink animals

A/N: so here is a new chapter showing some of the happenings of the first night on Olympus and of course the reading of a new chapter will be also put in so that no one complains about me taking so long, this is not as easy as it looks seeing how I want to make this Percy Jackson reading fic different then the already existing ones.

P.S.: also I would like to point out that neither Percy (to many fics put him in) or Thalia will come in, Hazel will be also absent, these characters and some others will only appear at the end of the book when the legacies get home. There WILL be a person from the future who comes by the third book when they are by the Hoover Dam chapter…didn't I say this already. Also adult Nico will make an appearance by the Mark of Athena book, but he will be in a dream-scape and only talk with the person who come by the third book and his father no one else.

* * *

XIII. Nightly talks and pink animals

After getting Poseidon into a bucket and Ares returning from Athena's temple had they a mostly eventless dinner after which it was decided that the demigods and legacies just like the Chase family may spend the night in the main palace where they set up rooms for them according to godly parent/grandparent, then they retired for the night.

Malcolm had spent a good hour after they had retired thinking of a plan how he could sneak out of the spacious room with soft gray walls, embodied with owl designs and three walls being to some degree covered by full book selves. The ground for this was that Annabeth decided to attempt interrogating her children about what Luke was annoyed about regards his namesake and of course Percy, but neither said anything and he needed to admit that Sally was in a way like a mini Annabeth with the way she managed to divert her mother's questions and to counter them. Finally after another half an hour all three went to bed and fell asleep, the exhaustion of the book's happenings finally catching up with his sister. When the room fell finally silent Malcolm carefully climbed out from under the covers and tiptoed outside in search for Mitchell, they had agreed as they were led to their rooms that they will meet on the balcony they had seen on the way here. Not to close to the rooms that anyone who wandered out of them, like such as the Stolls wanting to prank Katie, but close enough that they could slip back without anyone getting suspicious about their whereabouts.

When he arrived was the brunette already there.

"Sorry, Annabeth did an interrogation and only now fell asleep." he found himself explaining to the other who was sitting on the white marble railing, looking at him with blue eyes which have taken up a slight silvery glow due to the moonlight. Malcolm did his best to not stare at them or their talk might turn into a repeat of the earlier one, which's memory now didn't help at all so he quickly pushed it away.

"No problem, Silena and Gwen were a bit faster out which is kind of understandable considering their reactions while reading, I should know, if not for this meeting would I probably also be sleeping already." Mitchell explained with a grin as he jumped down from the railing now that Malcolm was finally here, though he needed to force his thoughts now at the ground they had met up and not on his fantasies, even thought this was a pretty romantic scene here for a kiss.

"Being faced with so much obliviousness to love is pretty frustrating to you." Malcolm noted while the other nodded his head with a small smile before his expression turned serious.

"You have also guessed." Mitchell said as the blonde's face turned grim, this was what he had dreaded.

"The way Luke is reacting and him saying that depending on which story one brings up, he either likes or hates his namesake, also the reactions of the other legacies mostly Lance, Misty and Ace who all have in common that Lord Hermes is their grandfather who is the father of the our suspect." listed Malcolm, each word making his stomach turn slowly into ice.

"There is only one option who could be the lightning thief, and that is our Luke. He had been at the scene at the right time, he is a child of Lord Hermes who is also the patron of thieves, a skill all his children have inherited so far and the book had shown that he holds a deep grudge against his father." Mitchell gave in his own option as Malcolm sighed in frustration, all this was too much to be only a coincidence, they had found their _'lightning thief'_.

"Annabeth won't take this well, at all." he finally said, feeling terrible for his sister when he suddenly felt a warm hand on his shoulder before finding himself gazing into the face of the Love Goddess's son.

"At least we know that things turn out well in the end or I can't see either your sister nor Percy, even thought we haven't met him yet, that they would name their firstborn after a person they hate." he told Malcolm reassuringly, he didn't like to see the blonde upset and the small smile he was now receiving was worth everything.

"You are right Mitchell." Malcolm said, he had been to busy trying to figure out how to console his sister and didn't think about that, thought now he also needs to bring up another subject. "Mitchell?"

"Yes?" the brunette asked, slightly happy that the other had till now not complied against his hand still being on his shoulder, beside the fact that his name sounded just to wonderful coming from those lovely lips.

"Well, during these readings have you kind of acted not like, well not like an Aphrodite kid, I don't mean this as a…", but Mitchell gave him a soft laugh, his eyes sparkling brilliantly which made Malcolm feel a new blush nearing.

"I'm not offended, I know that people kind of tend to see what we do and I admit that it really looks as if we would only live for gossip, fashion and beauty products." he told the blonde more than glad that the other didn't wish to upset him. "That is true most of the times, but that is mostly our fault and you need to admit that it can be good if people don't expect much from you." Malcolm needed to nod his head; it can be useful when you have something unexpected up your sleeve when it comes to a fight, the element of surprise can usually lead to triumph or at least give you time to get to safety. "Beside that, I was always good with spotting small details, my dad is a tailor for a good few of pretty high-profile fashion firms, this is kind of how he got mom's attention - beside the family name that is - , he had often taken me to his job and I could see him work with the clothes." Mitchell explained and Malcolm found himself nodding in understanding that would really explain how the other had figured out about their Luke and Medusa, he was used to pay attention to small details ADHD or not, his father had certainly given his son an advantage for survival.

"You are really petty good in this." he found himself complimenting the other which made the brunette blush.

"Thanks." Mitchell replied, he had not expected to receive a compliment from Malcolm, but he was happy none then less, this nightly meeting had brought also something good with it in his option, he finally managed to get closer to his lovely owl.

At the same time in the room shared by Apollo's sons and grandson, En decided to stay with Henry, the lights were still on as Will and Octavian relied the ground why they were since the revelation about one of their siblings/uncle acting so different when it comes to one of Lord Poseidon's sons. Neither of them liked what Octavian had relied to them about how he found them and with to many myths being around regards the pair, Orpheus was more than shaken by some of them, was it not easy to know which was true and which not, but they would still put they foot down between them.

It was probably for the better.

Orpheus promised to keep an eye on Orion that he doesn't do anything disrespectful towards their aunt before it was decided that they should finally head for bed seeing that breakfast will be at eight in the morning.

* * *

On the next day after a quick shower and getting dressed, headed everyone to the kitchen in the main palace to have again a shared breakfast which this time went without yesterdays incidents seeing how Hermes and Ares were still slightly sleepy, the former having done some late deliveries and the later not being a morning person. Both Poseidon and Athena were also much more calmer, well that was not exactly the ground, both of them woke up feeling stiff in the neck, slightly disoriented and with head aches, Poseidon had also woken up with a slight chill, seeing how Amphitrite kipped him into the bathtub so that he wont start the morning with trying to either step out of a bucket or get it off of his head.

When everyone finished they headed back to the throne room to continue reading.

"I'm curious what this chapter will be about." said Phobos to his brother as they sat down with the other minor divinities and nature spirits in the soft grass.

"Who knows, but yesterday's last chapter had definitely been a good example for our lovely Miss-know-it-all aunt." Deimos replied back with a grin as both him and his twin snickered while other only rolled their eyes at them, typical sons of the war god, his demigod kids tended to be the occasionally normal ones.

**_We Get Advice from a Poodle_**

"A what?" come many confused voiced as the divinities exchanged confused glances with each other while trying to understand the title.

"They are getting advice from a spot of water? Can water answer to you?" asked a confused Hedylogos before his brother Eros spoke up.

"No, mom read p-o-o-d-l-e and not p-u-d-d-l-e, this must be something else." he told his brother from beside his wife who was leaning against his shoulder.

"Hopefully we will know soon what that it because I'm lost." stated Bia while looking at the palace.

**_We were pretty miserable that night._**

Everyone nodded their heads that was understandable with what they had gone through so far, first being attacked by Hades's heralds and torturers, getting almost fried by Lord Zeus and then meeting up with Medusa, this was not a pretty start for a quest.

**_We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties._**

"What is wrong with parties?" asked a confused Herse while she busied herself with making random patches of grass moist with morning dew.

The other deities also shrugged about that seeing how they tended to have a good deal of parties here in Olymphos, mostly when it was a birthday from one of them, which with their numbers was pretty often and no one could say no to an Olympian party.

**_The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers._**

The nature spirits bristled at this, they didn't know what those were, but they were definitely not something you should throw away in the nature.

**_We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else._**

"A good choice, what in the name of Olymphos am I doing to not give them a break?" asked Seteria before looking over at her male counterpart who only shrugged helplessly.

"Don't look at me, I have no clue." he answered back to her before looking over at Tyche who held up her hands in defence.

"I already told Iris that I have no clue what I would have against that boy." she said, her eyes wandering over to Nemesis.

"Neither of us knows what is happening in the future so we should listen to it and let Hecate take note about what we should try changing." she said while gesturing to the goddess of magic beside whom a scroll floated on which a black raven feather was writing something in runes.

**_We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch._**

"I'm not surprised." Eusebeia said who had a feeling that this boy had certainly a strong blessing of loyalty, his actions so far certainly pointed to that.

**_Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground._**

A few goddesses who were close to Athena grinned at this, she also tended to snore even thought she would always deny it if the brought it up to her.

**_Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky._**

**_"Go ahead and sleep," I told him. "I'll wake you if there's trouble."_**

**_He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad, Percy."_**

**_"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?"_**

"Father won't like that." said all children of the King of the Sky when shortly thunder rumbled above them, he was so predictable.

**_"No. _****_This _****_makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."_**

The nature spirits gasped in horror at this while many of the minor divinities also looked shocked and angered about such a thing happening, it was unthinkable.

"They can't see mother's works?" asked a baffled Eris, she could never imagine walking down in the mortal world and not be able to see the night sky above herself when night had fallen.

"The mortals will certainly change in the future and not for the better I fear." Hemara said sighing as she looked over at her little sister.

**_"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."_**

**_He glared at me. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. _**

"Technically, is he only half-human." Hecate said, but she also felt bothered by what they had heard and feared for the safety of the nature spirits and some gods.

**_At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."_**

"Find Pan!?" chorused the shocked deities and nature spirits before exchanging nervous glances.

"I'm sure that he is fine, he is only off somewhere flirting with nymphs." spoke up Adrasteia nervously, the others nodded, that would be so like Pan, he was fine.

**_"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"_**

Everyone was looking confused at that, they had no clue what a cooking spray was, sprays could not cook or could they?

"All these future references are confusing." Selene said while Helios patted her on the shoulder.

**_"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"_**

And the tension was back again, this could not be happening.

**_A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rain water, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known._**

This on the other hand made everyone let out a sigh of relief and give them hope that the Lord of the Wild was only playing around like he tends to do; he was his father's sill son after all.

**_"Tell me about the search," I said._**

**_Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun._**

"He doesn't seem like a person who would do such a thing." Iris said in a kind tone, that demigod was loyal and considerate, not a person who would make fun out of a friend's dreams or thoughts.

**_"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me._**

There was a defeating silence before…

"WHAT!" screamed everyone and out of the palace something blue and white shoot out into the sky before it disappeared in a flash of golden light.

* * *

"Dad certainly took the new well…" Travis said in a faint tone as everyone stared at the empty throne of the Messenger God which had been only a second ago still been occupied by a pale looking god gripping the armrests since the search for his oldest son was read out loud.

"I think you should continue Aphrodite, he will be eventually back." Apollo told the goddess, but one could hear the worry in his tone for both his brother and nephew, speaking of younger brothers, Dionysus looked also not good, his knuckles had turned white from gripping the armrests of his throne too tight.

"Ok." Aphrodite replied as she looked at the next lines, maybe it was good that Hermes doesn't hear this.

"And to think that this was his reaction to his disappearance, the fourth book will be a disaster." Misty whispered to Lance, worried about their grandfather and how he will take being worried about one of his sons and then losing two in two chapters in a row.

Malcolm and Mitchell also exchanged dark looks; things were really going hard for Lord Hermes in their time.

**_"A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it._**

Suddenly Aphrodite's beautiful face darkened as she looked up at the demigods and legacies from the future.

"Is this true?" she asked in a tight tone.

"It is Lady Aphrodite." Lupa said with a bowed head, using the Greek name of the goddess.

"Unfortunately was this a result which could not be stopped as the news spread, thus the Fates needed to let it happen." Enysswe said at which Aphrodite nodded before reading the part which had enraged her.

**_They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. _**

Dionysus bristled at this, but didn't comment.

**_But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. _**

Dionysus nodded, he appreciated the satyrs determination.

**_In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."_**

The Roman demigods stared wide-eyed at this, they knew really too little about the fauns and underestimated them, but they will certainly change that fact from now on.

**_"And you want to be a searcher."_**

**_"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there—"_**

**_"Oh, right, sorry."_**

**_Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."_**

A sudden, uncomfortable silence fell over both the occupants of the throne room and those sitting outside.

"Did he just say in his last sentence what I think he said?" Apollo asked nervously while Annabeth shuddered, she didn't like think about the fact that Grover could get killed or worse disappear forever, but at least the fact that her children knew him meant that he was still fine.

"That is what stands here." Aphrodite said her tone faint, no one liked this confirmation.

"Aphrodite, continue." Zeus said finally.

**_"Hang on—_****_the first?"_**

"Our sentiments exactly little brother." Orion said while trying to shake of the bothersome feeling he had since waking up and going into the kitchen to have breakfast, that he was being watched.

**_Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."_**

**_"Not once in two thousand years?"_**

**_"No."_**

"This is anything, then a cheerful thing." Trickster said uncomfortably, those fauns had all set out to find his oldest half-brother and lost their lives trying; he was not sure how he truly felt about this, but he will certainly do something from now on to help their fauns.

**_"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"_**

**_"None."_**

**_"But you still want to go," I said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"_**

**_"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."_**

"I'm sure that it can be done." Dionysus said, but Odysseus saw the legacies bow their heads slightly making a dreadful feeling spread in him; it was already too late at that time to awaken him.

**_I stared at the orange haze of the sky_**

"It is already deep in the night and the sky is orange?" Demeter growled, what had those mortals done?

"Great-grandmother is not impressed by it, but change is slow and this is better than it was after the industrial revolution, which was a disgusting era." Enysswe said nodding with a wrinkled nose, but as she said in their time was change only going on slowly by the mortals.

**_and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?_**

**_"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"_**

At this could the legacies not help themselves then to snort which made everyone turn into their direction.

"This sentence coming from him of all people is truly ironic." Mich said with a small laugh.

"Seeing how many of them he has on his list of beings wanting to crush him and dad still being there is really amusing." Luke said, it was hard not to add titans also to the list, but that would spoil some sequences.

"Well, Bob kind of likes him now." Henry said laughing as the other legacies cracked up while the others stared at them in confusion.

"Please continue Lady Aphrodite." Enysswe said smiling which the goddess did after understanding that they won't get any answers from them.

**_"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"_**

**_"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out." _**

Annabeth bit back a sigh, she could understand Percy's feelings even she would be annoyed with herself, she come over too bossy and commanding, beside the rudeness.

**_"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life,_**

Frederic winced at this.

**_but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me..." His voice faltered._**

**_"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"_**

The others looked confused at this, but before anyone could ask there was a gust of wind and Hermes's throne was again preoccupied by said god who had a firm hold on a disgruntled looking satyr in his arms who was attempting to get free, but the hold was too strong.

"Dad, really I love you to, but as it really necessary to want some father-son time when I'm kind of busy? That nymph was pretty hard to get for a date and it kind of does not always impress a girl when their date's dad rushes in and kidnaps said date." Pan tied to reason with his father.

"Not a chance, you will not go anywhere without me." Hermes growled in a determined tone, he would not let his son get lost if he has a say in it.

"D, help me!" Pan called when he spotted his favourite uncle/best friend.

"I can get you out of there, but then you will settle for the same by me." Dionysus informed the Wild Lord who only stared at him gaping before noticing the large group he assumed to be demigods seeing how Chiron was also there with a really pretty she-wolf, though he would not get near those teeth.

"Uh…what is happening here?" he asked in confusion.

"We kind of got visitors from the future at the decision of the Fates to read ten books to change some happenings and to save lives." Athena explained to her nephew who nodded carefully when he noted some of the demigods looking at him, the features told him that they were his younger siblings, he even saw two Athena kids, some Aphrodite ones and a good deal of others in the groups. "Aphrodite, continue."

**_Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes._**

"Is he a satyr?" Pan asked suddenly.

"Yes, the two of you have also certainly much in common." Dionysus told Pan who only grinned at this.

**_"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't ... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"_**

Everyone flinched and Pan decided that it had probably been something which went terribly wrong.

**_"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's,_**

"Wait, Medusa? The priestess on which aunt Athena did a number and made her a hideous thing turning everything she looks at into stone?" Pan asked in shock, those three were lucky to survive.

"Yes, and the fact that they live is a miracle seeing how this boy is a child of Poseidon and the girl belongs to Athena." Apollo told his nephew who whistled at this.

**_Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."_**

**_"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunder bolt that Hades took."_**

"Wha…" but hearing two of the teenager's growl and the dark look his aunt Persephone had, wait her husband was also up here?

* * *

**_"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy ... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."_**

"That is true, all three of them could have done more damage and before that had Alecto enough chances to kill Percy and then, there were her words in the museum." Hecate mused while exchanging look with both Nemesis and Sophrosyne.

"There is still something missing from the picture." Sophrosyne said in a thoughtful tone, something was not adding up.

**_"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."_**

Those who knew the three sisters only shook their heads at this in the negative.

"You haven't seen anything from what they are capable of." Enyo said to no one in practicular.

**_Grover shook his head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"_**

**_"Asking about me," I said._**

"Something tells me that this may not be the case." Zagreus said while looking over at his two sisters, this would not be like their father even in his most angry moments.

**_"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is _****_it_****_?' They seemed to be asking about an object."_**

**_"That doesn't make sense."_**

**_"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt..." He looked at me like he was hoping for answers, but I didn't have any._**

Some of the minor gods had suddenly a suspicious feeling that the quest had not been misunderstood, but that it may be that there was much more to it, then the stolen Master Bolt and this bothered them.

**_I thought about what Medusa had said: I was being used by the gods._**

Here those who had demigod children flinched, they didn't want their children to think like this, they were not objects.

**_What lay ahead of me was worse than petrification. "I haven't been straight with you," I told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back my mother."_**

**_Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"_**

**_"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."_**

"If any of my other demigod siblings would say that Percy, I would believe them, but you don't give the feeling of that you would even abandon family, our father included." said Desponia in a kind tone while gazing at the palace where Aphrodite had started reading again.

**_Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth._**

"Seeing how Miss Know-it-all is her mother, then you should not be surprised." Phobos scoffed as he remembered those dreadful classes she had forced on them.

**_I'm not as brave as you. _**

**_But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."_**

The gods and nature spirits snorted at this, some even started snickering at the memory of what stood at the end of the last chapter they had heard yesterday before going to bed.

"I'm sure that he did notice him, alright." Phobos snickered while looking over where Eris was sitting. "Do you think that there is a chance that someone recorded the reactions?" he called over to her.

"There is a good chance for that if not by either Apollo or Hermes, then the constellations on the night sky mother had placed up in the throne room as a present surely did." Eris called back in delight, anything that annoyed the one who had hurt his sister was great, she started to like this demigod.

"The first time a demigod dared this." snickered Telete, she had not seen such actions even from the most drunken partiers to defy the gods like this and getting away with it none then less.

**_"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."_**

**_Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."_**

**_"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."_**

"I wouldn't say that he had done nothing worth bragging about seeing how he had defeated three monsters, two without and one with only a little bit of training and in the case of his second argument." Hecate said with a small smile on her lips. "When there is a will, there is always a way."

**_Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. "How about _****_I_****_ take first watch, huh? You get some sleep."_**

**_I wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and I turned away, my eyes stinging. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep._**

There was suddenly a pause which lasted for about two minutes, but only a few noticed it and those did not like the strange feeling in the back of their minds.

**_In my dreams, I stood in a dark cavern before a gaping pit._**

An icy chill run down on everyone's back out and inside of the palace before looking at the three Underworld siblings and the children of the Night Goddess.

"Tha…that place." Hemera gasped in shock while gripping Aether's hand, he also knew that place it was the entrance to their uncle's kingdom which's dark way down held a secret door their mother and his sister/wife use when they switch places.

"This is anything, then good no child of either being should ever need to wander to that place." Macaria said nervously while her sister Melinoe tried calming her down, their youngest sister had always been more sensitive than she or their brother.

**_Gray mist creatures churned all around me, whispering rags of smoke that I somehow knew were the spirits of the dead._**

**_They tugged at my clothes, trying to pull me back, but I felt compelled to walk forward to the very edge of the chasm._**

"Don't go near it!" a good number of deities and spirits yelled in panic.

"At least will they in there now know that our father is innocent." Zagreus said as he also tried to console his sensitive little sister.

"Agreed, our father's subjects are trying to protect the son of our uncle Poseidon, no one who is guilty or cruel like in those lies spread out by the mortals would do that." Melinoe said in a tone that the others could also hear, some nodding in agreement with her words while others looked guilty.

**_Looking down made me dizzy._**

"Then don't look down and get out of there!" yelled everyone before turning over to the newly arriving god dressed in gray. "Morpheus, why is he visiting there in a demigod dream!" the poor god of dreams stared only perplexed and slightly scarred at everyone, not sure if he should get Dionysus, Mania or his aunt Lyssa to check up on everyone's mental health.

**_The pit yawned so wide and was so completely black, I knew it must be bottomless. Yet I had a feeling that something was trying to rise from the abyss,_**

The cold returned as siblings, even if often arguing clustered closer, lovers holding the other or their friends as everyone stared with dread at the palace, clinging to the shaking voice of the love goddess.

**_something huge and evil._**

**_The little hero, _****_an amused voice echoed far down in the darkness. _****_Too weak, too young, but perhaps you will do._**

**_The voice felt ancient—cold and heavy. It wrapped around me like sheets of lead._**

"On the other hand…I wouldn't mind if dad would be behind all of this." Zagerus said in a weak voice.

* * *

"PERSEUS JACKSON, GET IMEDIATELY OUT OF THERE, YOU ARE FORBIDDEN TO TALK OR BE IN THE PRESENCE OF YOUR GRANDFATHER!" Poseidon screamed in terror, his son was not only by the bloody entrance of Tartaros, but also when that bastard was awake! His other sons looked about to pass out at this and Theseus was doing a nice job in making a new set of ten holes into the couch.

"Are demigod dreams even allowed to take you to that place?" asked a nervous Travis Stoll as he was hugging a shaking Katie. When they were told where Percy was had everyone gone pale and looked frightened, even Clarisse and her father which was saying something that those two showed outright fear, though no one noticed that Malcolm and Mitchell also looked close to throwing up.

"I fear our grandparents will have a nervous breakdown by he end of he eight book." Luke whispered gravely to his sister while he looked at their frightened mother.

"Agreed, the older gods already look close to passing out, well not all Zeus looks like someone who just took a jump into the Nile and started swimming against the current." Sally answered back as she observed the King of Gods, hoping for him that he doesn't start a new war with En.

**_They have misled you, boy, _****_it said. _****_Barter with me. I will give you what you want._**

"HE WILL NEVER SIDE WITH YOU!" screamed everyone even Aphrodite before continuing to read, hoping that someone will wake Percy up soon.

**_A shimmering image hovered over the void: my mother, frozen at the moment she'd dissolved in a shower of gold. Her face was distorted with pain, as if the Minotaur were still squeezing her neck. Her eyes looked directly at me, pleading: _****_Go!_**

Everyone was still too much in panic to react to this, but the legacies turned to the Underworld cousins.

"I'm not sure, grandfather said that he had felt a strong presence near Tartaros and sent out his subjects to stop any type of incidents, he never elaborated, but it might be that he had allowed grand-aunt Sally to also go if she had felt that it was uncle Percy." Enysswe said in a thoughtful tone.

"Her looks might be picked so that he gets the message, if she would have been there as a normal soul it might have not worked that he gets out of there fast enough." Henry added in while the others nodded.

**_I tried to cry out, but my voice wouldn't work._**

**_Cold laughter echoed from the chasm._**

**_An invisible force pulled me forward. It would drag me into the pit unless I stood firm._**

"Yes, yes don't let yourself be dragged in there." Annabeth pleaded hoping that either Grover or her would wake him up any second.

**_Help me rise, boy. _****_The voice became hungrier. _****_Bring me the bolt. Strike a blow against the treacherous gods!_**

"And you compare our older brother to that." Hera hissed into Zeus's ear, she hated hearing about their father again, it brought back to many bad memories, but also made her see the differences between him and Hades, their brother will endure banishment and betrayal for so long and not turn against them even if his own children do everything to get him to do it, but their father would use others to help him raise. No, Hades had only inherited their father's cunning, but not his lust for blood and power.

**_The spirits of the dead whispered around me, _****_No! Wake!_**

"Percy, please listen to your uncle's subjects, as ironic as that sounds, the dead know what is good for you." Apollo said nervously while occasionally looking over at Poseidon who looked close to becoming a puddle again.

"Please, please, please wake up Percy." Poseidon whimpered while holding his wife for support, the tension in the room was palpable, just like outside.

**_The image of my mother began to fade. The thing in the pit tightened its unseen grip around me._**

**_I realized it wasn't interested in pulling me in. It was using me to pull itself _****_out._**

"FATHER! GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS IMEDIATELY OFF OF MY SON!" Poseidon screamed again while the legacies flinched, he took his hands from him alright, though someone else had not been so lucky.

"I really find the fact that I have that as a grandfather sickening." Jay said in a faint tone.

"Look at it like that, all of us are in a way related to him." Felix said looking sick from the thought, unfortunately his mother's powers regards luck didn't reach that far.

**_Good, _****_it murmured. _****_Good._**

"Not good, not good at all." the others said.

**_Wake! _****_the dead whispered. _****_Wake!_**

"Yes, Percy please listen to the dead, wake up and get out of there." Poseidon pleaded, he now really would have preferred Dionysus changing him into a dolphin and sending him to his palace, he now really liked that idea.

**_Someone was shaking me._**

"Finally!" Poseidon said in a relieved sigh.

**_My eyes opened, and it was daylight._**

**_"Well," Annabeth said, "the zombie lives."_**

Annabeth blushed when the god of the seas had suddenly stood up and gave her a hug before returning to his throne, looking much more better now that he knew that his son was facing a lesser bad situation.

"Uh…shouldn't the zombie comment be used for a kid of the Underworld like uncle Hades's kids, grandkids or those of Thanatos?" Hermes asked in an attempt to lighten the mode, thought it only earned him some not exactly friendly looks which made Pan start a new struggle to get out of his father's grasp, but it failed again.

"Only because we are only slightly warmer as a corpse doesn't mean that we are like zombies, beside that after our knowledge has Thanatos still no demigod children to account for." Henry said while the others, by the gods only a few, stared at him and En.

"Only slightly warmer than a corpse?" Trickster asked in an unbelieving tone.

"Of course, well En is a different case regards how she had been born, but yes even my body temperature is much colder than that of a normal person." Henry said while the eyes turned to the queen of the Underworld who just shrugged.

"One gets used to it, so I don't mind." she replied while everyone decided that they had got more than enough information.

"Aphrodite."

**_I was trembling from the dream._**

"Who wouldn't?" asked Pan, great now had he not only a butchered date for which he had worked for two months, but he would also have nightmares about his great-grandfather.

**_I could still feel the grip of the chasm monster around my chest._**

"Monster is a prefect description about him nephew." Hades said in a dark tone while some of his siblings shifted in their thrones.

**_"How long was I asleep?"_**

**_"Long enough for me to cook breakfast." Annabeth tossed me a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar. _**

There were a few weak snickers at this while Annabeth blushed.

**_"And Grover went exploring. Look, he found a friend."_**

"That is adorable, but I don't think that it is a natural colour." Aphrodite said before continuing.

**_My eyes had trouble focusing._**

**_Grover was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with something fuzzy in his lap, a dirty, unnaturally pink stuffed animal._**

**_No. It wasn't a stuffed animal. It was a pink poodle._**

"That is definitively not the natural colour of any animal which is not a bird or some cold-blooded animals or fish, mammals would never have such an unpractical fur." Pan said with narrowed eyes as some of the others also frowned.

"This is animal abuse." Katie said, that poor dog.

**_The poodle yapped at me suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."_**

"He?" the men in and outside of the palace called incredulously.

**_I blinked. "Are you ... talking to that thing?"_**

**_The poodle growled._**

**_"This _****_thing_****_," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."_**

**_"You can talk to animals?"_**

"Of course they can seeing that a part of them is also an animal." Pan sated at which the Roman demigods turned to Lupa who nodded her head in confirmation.

"And now also this." Jay said to his fellow Romans, fauns were incredibly useful.

**_Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."_**

"That poor poodle, I don't know what is worse, being pink or being named Gladiola." Chris said shuddering, the other guys looked also disturbed.

"I doubt that he feels extremely manly." Connor added in.

**_I stared at Annabeth, figuring she'd crack up at this practical joke they were playing on me, but she looked deadly serious._**

**_"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," I said. "Forget it."_**

**_"Percy," Annabeth said. "I said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."_**

"And another repeating theme." Misty said in an amused tone, glad that the tension was slowly disappearing, but if she remembers right will it be back next chapter.

"What, saying hello to a pink poodle?" asked Bellerophon with a raised eyebrow.

"Not exactly it is more mom getting dad to do something he refuses or just to do in general." Sally told them.

**_The poodle growled._**

**_I said hello to the poodle._**

There were a few snickers at this.

**_Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family,_****_but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover._**

"Aww, that was really nice of him." Silena said smiling.

**_"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked._**

**_"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."_**

"Most animals can, but only a small number can use the tongue of humans, and even then it is limited to a few words." Artemis explained to the demigods while in the back the looked Frederic interested.

**_"Of course," I said. "Silly me."_**

**_"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."_**

**_I thought about my dream—the whispering voices of the dead, the thing in the chasm, and my mother's face, shimmering as it dissolved into gold. All that might be waiting for me in the West._**

Everyone shivered at the reminder.

**_"Not another bus," I said warily._**

**_"No," Annabeth agreed._**

**_She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I hadn't been able to see last night in the dark. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the west bound train leaves at noon."_**

"The chapter is done." Aphrodite said as she handed the book over to her husband who looked down at the title.

"A wonderful start." he said while shaking his head, his uncle will not like it.

"Don't worry, this was actually dad's second highest jumping experience." Luke answered the god.

"Do I want to know what his first one is, if this was the second." Hephaestus said while the others were staring at him and Luke in confusion.

"Not really, but the seventh book will tell you anyway." Luke replied with a shrug.

"Hephaestus, what is the title?" Hera asked her son and everyone was slightly shocked by the gentle tone she had used.

"The chapter is titled '**_I Plunge to my Death'._**" he read while Poseidon groaned.

"Just lovely the title and looking back at the pleasant conversation you had with my grandson have I even he chance to read about something more dangerous than whatever place he plunges himself of. That boy fulfils a fathers every wish to worry, does he not?" Poseidon said in a sarcastic tone. "Just read Hephaestus, I'm ready for the heart attack."

_To be continued…_


	14. If this is the second, I dread the first

XIV. If this is the second, I dread the first

**_We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain._**

**_We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax._**

"Good, with the luck you had so far is it better if you stay alert." Jay said, he really had no clue what the guy could have done to annoy Felix's mother's Greek counterpart, even before he knew that he was a demigod then he could not imagine how one could have so much bad luck in almost one go.

"Saddly, judging by the title will that not be of much help to avoid trouble." Castor said while looking over at his twin who nodded his head in agreement at the statement.

"I would feel better if the word _'death'_ would not stand in the title." Theseus mumbled to himself as he painfully remembered his beloved step-father plunging himself to death from the tower when he saw the black sails.

**_I felt that we were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity._**

**_I tried to keep a low profile because my name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers._**

There was a new wave of growls while Athena filled in her nephew about the ground for the reaction when she noticed Pan looking at her questioningly.

**_The _****_Trenton Register-News _****_showed a photo taken by a tourist as I got off the Greyhound bus. I had a wild look in my eyes. My sword was a metallic blur in my hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick._**

"Sometimes, the mist can be also a real a pain." Misty said while the others nodded in agreement, it could really have made the sword look like something which could not be used as a weapon that would have been more preferred then.

**_The picture's caption read:_**

**_Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers._**

"I wonder if that reporter could meet with Alecto and her sisters and still think that they are fable elderly ladies." Lance said while looking over at his two annoyed looking cousins.

"Don't even think about it, if it is not their time to die then they wont be meeting them, there is enough work to do in the Underworld without such trips." Henry told the other with a small glare.

"Only a suggestion." the other defended, but the glare didn't lessen.

**_The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with two teenage accomplices._**

Cue loud groans, this was just getting better and better.

"Uncle, I really hope that this man really has a _good _time in your realm." Hephaestus said in a tight tone before continuing.

**_His stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture._**

"Why that vile, disgusting…" while the goddesses and female demigods were busy listing up insults for Gabe signalled Mich to his grandfather that he should continue before Poseidon causes a tsunami to break out and drown a good number of mortals, no need to cause the great flood in the Bible. Did that already happen anyway or only later?

**_"Don't worry," Annabeth told me. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure._**

"I will be probably trying to reassure him." Annabeth said, though it looks that she will fail in that department.

**_The rest of the day I spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows._**

**_Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch._**

**_The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, but nobody else had noticed. The adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines._**

"Times will really be changing in the future." Athena said while shaking her head, on one side it was good on the other really bad.

"That is an understatement grandmother, the growing ignorance of the mortals towards the mythical worlds will be almost overwhelming, mostly after the whole Christianity belief started spreading which started to not only forcefully push away ancient beliefs, but also destroying them" Sally said, then her voice become grave "in our time and the time these two groups have come from are it mostly your demigod children and the few clear sighted mortals who maintain that some of the gods don't fade." she finished while the gods exchanged worried glances with each other, this didn't sound good at all.

"I think, we should continue…" Athena said suddenly with a sigh, something told her that this chapter will be even without these unsettling information's stressful on them.

**_Another time, toward evening, I saw something huge moving through the woods. I could've sworn it was a lion,_**

The legacies tensed at this, it was not possible that he had seen the lion he will help defeat in two years to come.

**_except that lions don't live wild in America, and this thing was the size of a Hummer. Its fur glinted gold in the evening light. Then it leaped through the trees and was gone._**

"That was the…" Artemis gasped in shock while Hercules thought back how he defeated the lion back then.

"Third book." Misty said which made everyone exchange nervous glances.

"I can hardly wait." Poseidon mumbled under his breath, his future son will be as it seems really go through every monster in their mythology.

**_Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. _**

"Try that while leaning on a working desk, it is a murder for both the neck and back." Hades muttered under his breath while Persephone rubbed his back, her poor husband really worked too much.

**_I tried not to drool in my sleep, since Annabeth was sitting right next to me._**

"Awww isn't that cute, he is trying to better himself for you." Aphrodite gushed while both of her daughters were beaming at a blushing Annabeth; Mitchell was kind of trying to hold himself back for Malcolm's shake while Athena glared at the love goddess, fine she could not stop her daughter from choosing whom to love, but she didn't want to be reminded of it non stop.

**_Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking me up._**

Some snickered at this.

"Satyrs are part goat, we can't help it." Pan defended while blushing as the snickers got louder.

**_Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed._**

**_"So," Annabeth asked me, once _****_we'd _****_gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants your help?"_**

"A good deal of people." the legacies said.

**_"What do you mean?"_**

**_"When you were asleep just now, you mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Who were you dreaming about?"_**

"Something we now all wish to never experience." Katie said shuddering; she would be frightened to death if she would dream about that place so no one noticed the dark looks the legacies exchanged with each other or a certain duo.

**_I was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time I'd dreamed about the evil voice from the pit._**

**_But it bothered me so much I finally told her._**

**_Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "That doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs."_**

"Of course is it not me and as an information I do laugh, but seeing with what I have to deal with most of the time would put anyone down from being amused." Hades said while again his siblings shifted in their thrones, of course they had in the past heard their brother laugh, but it was to long ago and the memories had become hazy.

"We can agree that he does laugh, he had been certainly amused by that incident on the Winter Solicit three years ago when granddad's prank unfortunately hit the wrong target and grandfather Zeus found himself suddenly literally in the flashlight, never knew that usually all gods have a camera with them on the solicits." Ace said snickering at the memory; the King of Gods didn't even understand what had happened for almost ten minutes because the moment he tired to figure out what had hit him the camera flashes blinded him.

"Who was the prank intended for?" Hermes asked carefully while Zeus had a frown on his face.

"Uh…by the look of the results I would say Ladies Artemis and Aphrodite." Ace replied in a thoughtful tone as Pan made a new desperate attempt to flee seeing how his aunt, aunt-in-law and grandfather were glaring at his father. He was a too handsome satyr to fade now!

"Erm…he, he…Hep please read!" Hermes pleaded to his brother who took pity on him and decided to read.

**_"He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?"_**

"Just every god with the aspect of death to their being or if someone is good at deceiving others with their lies, also one could get a necromancer, they can also do the trick." Enysswe said in an annoyed tone while rolling her eyes.

"I didn't know that." said a surprised Theseus, so technically even Thanatos, the Keres and his uncle's three immortal children could give back a dead person's soul.

"Not many try to learn." Hades replied with a shrug.

**_"I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?"_**

"A new point that it is not me." Hades said, he was starting to feel tired from the way people saw him, sometimes had he the unwelcome feeling as if others would think that he was his father that thought made his stomach turn in disgust.

**_I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something._**

**_Where is it? Where?_**

**_Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head._**

There were some snickers at this, but seeing the next lines Hephaestus made himself ready for the angry reactions to come.

**_Annabeth readjusted his cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy._**

Annabeth covered slightly behind Beckendorf and Clarisse when the angry growls and hisses come.

"He is neither of those!" Persephone yelled in anger as Hades tightened his grip around her waist, just to be on the safe side.

"As much as I see your point, making these assumptions about someone you don't know is more then infuriating." Enysswe growled out, her eyes switching between tri-colour and black while Henry was gripping at his black jeans, the golden table seemed to shake as he tried to force himself to calm down.

"Is this how people in the future see our brother?" Hestia asked in a saddened tone as she made her way over to her little brother and placed her hand on his arm in a comforting manner while both Hera and Poseidon sent a heated glare at a fidgeting Zeus.

"Uh…kind of yes…" Pollux answered carefully, he hoped that his dad would not let them be blasted to pieces, though on the other hand he also looked kind of angry.

"In this case, all gods fall into that category child, your mother included as you can note by the monsters she had created and some of her deeds." Dionysus said in an annoyed tone. That heartless god had allowed him to trade his mother and beloved wife from the Underworld not something one in that category would do and by the look Orpheus had on his face was he thinking along the same lines while Apollo looked with annoyance at his sister that she should not dare object seeing how in the Trojan war she had aided the murderer of one of his precious children.

Aphrodite looked also angry on her throne as she remembered how willingly her uncle-in-law had given the box filled with sleeping powder to Psyche who had gone into the Underworld on a quest for her as a test if she truly loved Eros or not. Beside that she could feel how much he loved his wife and children she had seen him taking care about his granddaughter he had only meet at that given moment only a hour ago, no one who is deceitful and heartless would behave like that towards others. She should know being a goddess of love and all, the King of the Dead had a heart, a deeply scarred and heavily guarded one, but it was still there.

"Leave it everyone, I'm starting to understand why my own demigod children are feeling frustrated that I don't set my foot down against Olymphos, but getting now annoyed for what will not happen for millennia will not bring us closer to the end of the books." Hades spoke up finally, his gaze firmly set on his wife's hair. "Hephaestus, please continue with reading."

"Yes uncle." Hephaestus replied and started to read hurriedly before anyone could interrupt while Annabeth looked at the ruler of the Underworld, not sure how to feel at the given time.

**_I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time—"_**

**_"This time?" I asked. "You mean you've run into them before?"_**

"And they would not have cared that there were others, they had been sent on specific orders at that time." Henry said in a tight tone as he tired to get his anger under control, not easy if you were both a legacy of Poseidon and Mars beside Hades, that meant a good deal of emotional turmoil if you get agitated.

Annabeth flinched, if they would have known that at that time then they would have not lost so much time arguing and just could have gotten help form the others at camp, then Thalia would have been fine and still here.

"Meaning, they would have spared the others?" Artemis asked, though she saw sense if this is about the death of her half-sister and there had been the oath it is no wonder that her uncle would be furious, the ground for it must truly be grievous or her father would never attempt to not have anymore affairs with mortals, Athena was thinking along the same lines.

**_Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom."_**

"Strange, you don't exactly mind visiting the Underworld sometimes without uncle Percy." Enysswe said while rolling her eyes, she could not help it; she had always been protective about her grandfather.

"What?" Annabeth asked in shock.

"Near the end of the book and as said these two will be moody till close to the end of this story after that they will be more calmer till the third one and up." Sally told her mother while looking warily at her two cousins, as it was pointed out that they knew why she was like this, but it didn't mean that they would listen wordlessly when someone is badmouthing a family member they love and she also needed to admit that there had really been too many unfair actions against their grandfather in the past.

**_"What would you do if it was your dad?"_**

Frederic looked up at this, but seeing the flinch on the smith god's face, he didn't except an all too positive answer.

**_"That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot."_**

Yes, that was really not a positive answer.

Meanwhile were the gods and past heroes frowning at the answer while Annabeth looked at the matt they were sitting on.

**_"You're not serious?"_**

Athena really hoped that she was not, but by the way her daughter was behaving she feared for the worst, it took her much effort to remind herself repeatedly that they were not only forbidden by the Fates to hurt anyone, but have also sworn an oath on the River Styx, or she would have cursed the mortal on the couch as they were calling that seat.

Noting the way Athena's gray eyes flashed was Frederic meanwhile sure that without the Fates and the oath he would already be something on the same lines as Medusa, Arachne or much worse though it was a worse punishment to know how Annabeth truly felt about him and Athena's anger. Sue was also not sure how to feel, she was firstly scarred that her family would be hurt, but there was also the fact that this had been the ground why she had been the way with Annabeth as she was, she wanted her family safe from harm the girl called to herself with her being, but she knew how much her husband hurt since she was gone.

She really didn't know what to do or feel.

Bobby and Matthew meanwhile were staring wide eyed at their big sister, would she really not help their dad if he would have been kidnapped, but then even thought they were young they remembered all those times she got hurt or had those nightmares about spiders and neither of their parents rushed to her to make her feel better like they did with them. Matthew remembered when he fell by accident while running around in the garden and scrapped his knee, their mum and dad rushed to him, his mommy kissed it better while dad ruffled his hair and told him how brave he was for not crying when he cleaned the wound. While on the next day when Annabeth had gotten home from school with a large gash on her arm had no one cared, he even heard his mom telling her to clean up the blood that had dropped on the tile in the kitchen after she was done with her arm, that seemed hardly fair because the wound looked much worse then his scraped knee.

**_Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound._**

"Nice comparison." Connor said weekly, that look must have been scary.

"Well, she kind of has a new dangerous look which scares people when they see it." Sally said in a thoughtful tone as she remembered her uncle Leo telling her about that look.

"So true, those who have seen it all agree that it is a powerful death glare." Lance agreed with her while everyone looked at them curiously.

"It even got its own name." Mich added in, his poor granddad, he faced that look almost trice in his life and didn't wish for a new go at it.

"What kind of name?" asked Hermes, hoping that it might bring up the dark mood a bit.

"Easy, it is called the _Give-me-Percy-Jackson-or-die _look." Luke elaborated at which Annabeth flushed crimson while all around her people broke out laughing, well beside the cooing love goddess and her children.

"That is soo adorable." Aphrodite said beaming, she was again feeling feint, but didn't mind.

The others all took five more minutes to calm down so that Hephaestus could continue with the book, the good mood had been pleasant till it lasted in his option when he saw what was about to come up. The mortal Athena picked as a father was truly lucky for the double protection he was placed under with everyone else.

**_"My dad's resented me since the day I was born, Percy," she said._**

Frederic wanted to say that this was not true, but the god continued before he or anyone else could even utter a single word.

**_"He never wanted a baby._**

This was also not the full case, he only didn't plan on a child so early and the looks the gods were sending towards him and his family were also bothersome seeing that he had fathered twins with his wife.

**_When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back_**

Odysseus really had a hard time to resist the urge to walk up to that man and demand from him if he was truly such a fool, a child born by Lady Athena was something truly precious and not a damaged trade object!

**_and raise me on Olympus_**

"The laws forbid doing that, anyway it only would go if the child would be fully made into a god, which can not be done every time a demigod is born or it would be a disaster, this is why a demigod needs to accomplish great deeds to receive this gift." Enysswe replied, she had gone through a good deal of old texts to get more insight about this, with her being a mortal goddess and all.

"What type of disaster?" Jay asked curiously while Frederic also did his best to listen, at that time had Athena not explained to him only made it final that she was forbidden to take Annabeth back with her.

"Meaning that the new god would need at least one sphere of power to regain over or become the gender counterpart of an already existing god's domain, but if all the gods would just take their demigod children up here it would mean that every single little thing, even a needle or something similarly small, would be ruled or patroned by a god, this of course with the changing of times would lead to some of these lesser gods fading if their domain is not present anymore. In the time we come from have for example people found cures for a good deal of sicknesses which were deadly in this time or take even the technological changes, there are even new illnesses and problems people have which can harden a gods control over their domain and this list of reasoning's could go on endlessly." she finished with explaining, it would take to long to finish and she noted that some looked already bothered enough by her words and some looked even lost, Frederic was in the former party of those people, now he started to understand better which didn't help his guilt towards his child.

"You are good with noting the laws kid." Pan stated as he tried to make himself a rhyme about her, from the earlier reaction he guessed that she was related to Hades, but she had still something to her aura and that eye colour, really catchy, but somehow also strange.

"Looking at my job is it kind of important for me to know these things." En replied back to the god who tilted his head to the side.

"She is a mortal goddess and lieutenant to the Fates." Hera told her step-grandson who first stared at her unbelievingly when it suddenly clicked.

"Whoah, wait a minute a mortal goddess who works for the Fates?" he asked while looking at the girl incredulously as she smiled back at him in a kind manner.

"Yes, unlike those who have come with me or were brought here by divine power, I have been not born, but was created through soil given by Lord Chaos and water from the River Achteron. I have been formed by three demigods of first, third and fourth generation gods and awakened by hellfire and sunlight, making me a legacy of the gods Hypnos, Hades and Apollo." she finished explaining as Will did his best to not blush again, he really needed to get a grip on himselfs, while those who had not heard the whole thing about her birth were gaping at the girl in shock.

"I would say girl, I pity the idiot who gets on your bad side." Pan whistled while all around him were some of the other divinities trying not to break out laughing or to even look in Zeus's general direction who had till now a nice record just doing that.

**_because he was too busy with his work._**

"Still is sometimes." Sue mumbled to herself, while keeping a hold on her sons who were trying to catch their older sister's eyes, but she was defiantly glaring at the matt while the blonde boy beside her took her hand.

**_She wasn't happy about that._**

Athena nodded her head, of course she wouldn't be happy with that.

**_She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent."_**

The heroes of old nodded their heads in agreement, they could not even imagine that a mortal would not feel love for the child given to them by a god, it might be that some of the step-parents don't take it well, but some do.

"Also, the fact that a demigod gets raised by the mortal parent is so that the hero learns the values and morals of life, gods knowledgeable that is true for we have seen much, but for us who are immortal things slip by fast and we see the world with other eyes. Even the human life is most of the time for us only as long as the blink of the eye." Hestia explained kindly while the demigods looked at her in interest, this kind of made sense asto why they get left by their other parent and not the divine one, Frederic also understood now as well as the moral he had without knowing teached to Annabeth.

"Thank you for explaining this to us Lady Hestia." Reyna said, she had always wondered why Bellona had left them with their father if she had loved him enough to have two children with him, now she kind of saw it that her mother in a way meant well, she wanted them to experience the part of life she could not really teach her and Hylla, what it means to be human.

The other demigods also nodded their agreement, they also noticed that while reading these books they also kind of learn more things not only about the past and the gods themselves, but also about some of their reasoning's for some of the laws. In some way, this made it a bit easier to accept their own existence together with the knowledge that their parents actually cared about them, but could not always show it.

**_"But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital..."_**

"If that is something like a healing room then in a way she was, in the side building of my temple where I have the room where I deal with injured, sick or pregnant immortals, though by the later I have always Artemis helping me." Apollo said while those with a goddess as a mother looked up at the twin archers in surprise, they did not know that they were the ones helping the most of them to be born or that they were born in Olymphos's version of a hospital.

**_"I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind._**

Frederic remembered that, he had been so stunned and then tried to figure out how a cradle made out of gold could float so freely like a leaf in the wind and still act like a boat rocking on a calm river. His sons on the other hand found the idea about a floating cradle awesome.

"Zephyr is a good friend and always volunteers to take my children to their mortal father and stay by them if they should not be home at the time of the arrival to keep them safe from harm." Athena said while Malcolm remembered his dad telling him how he returned home from a math symposium and saw a golden cradle in front of his apartment door with something like a mini whirlwind around it like a type of shield. He had first thought that he had drunk to much coffee to stay awake and almost swore if off, but got over his shock in the end when he remembered the times he spent in Athena's company.

**_You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or some thing._**

Cue new flinch from said father, now he kind of wished that he would have taken one, he had only like two or three pictures about Annabeth.

"Digital photos?" Bellerophon asked in confusion.

"Something like instant paintings after you press a little button." Chris explained to the other who nodded his head.

**_But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him._**

The demigods clustered again closer to Annabeth while the gods and past heroes looked annoyed at the mortals in their midst while Lupa and Chiron exchanged sorrowful glances, sadly was this not the first time a goddess's lover reacting like that.

**_When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. _**

'_I never could.'_ Frederic though sighing while by the thrones Aphrodite raised her head in curiosity, she surely had felt wrong or...

**_He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist."_**

Sue wanted to look offended, but by the looks they were getting would that not be healthy for her family while her sons looked sadly at the ground, they did not know that Annabeth felt like that.

**_I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better, but I didn't know how._**

"He is such a gentleman." Aphrodite said, her earlier thoughts forgotten for a while, the other goddesses needed to nod their heads.

"Even if you would not end up together, Percy seems like a really caring friend." Katie told Annabeth who nodded her head, it really touched her that he wanted to make her feel better no matter how many times they argued or how she behaved around him.

**_"My mom married a really awful guy," I told her._****_"Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking."_**

Sue felt her jaw drop while Annabeth allowed herself a smile as the others snickered, she knew that this was not the ground, but imagining it that was really funny to her.

**_Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much._**

Annabeth looked also thoughtful about that while Frederic kind of guessed the ground, it was because of her mother and not because of him, suddenly he found himself looking into the smith god's eyes who looked at him with a hint of distaste which made him flinch.

"I'm really starting to understand why the Fates had set the rules about not harming." he said while looking over at Enysswe who nodded her head in confirmation, the others on the other hand had frowns on their faces while Annabeth guessed that she went into some details which surprised her seeing that she never did this, only with Thalia and Luke, but mostly Thalia who understood.

**_"He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife—my stepmom—treated me like a freak._**

Sue flinched by the look those gray eyes were giving her, it felt like being cut by cold steel.

**_She wouldn't let me play with her children._**

Bobby and Matthew exchanged confused glances at this, they sister had wanted to play with them? Their parents told them that she was always busy or was doing dangerous stuff only older children are allowed to play.

**_My dad went along with her._**

Now it was Fredrick's turn to feel as if cut, but he also noticed the dark look Odysseus was giving him and how it were Jason and Orpheus keeping him sitting.

"Granddad is really in for the past." Luke whispered to Sally, who really would have liked to defend her grandfather, but that would lead of them needing to give a spoiler and beside that, he and step-grandmother Sue needed to be faced with the consequences of their actions in an environment where it was currently not allowed to hurt anyone present before glancing over at En.

"Your relatives outside must be raging." she whispered to her.

"That is an understatement, on the side of my great-grandmother is family one of the most important things, but I hope that they get calmed down soon." she whispered back, and this was the truth seeing how outside were a good deal of gods trying to keep the children of the night goddess from marching into the palace, which was easier said then done and not one of them would have some bruises, scratch marks or in some unfortunate cases even bite marks, luckily only form Eris and not her sisters the Keres or Lyssa. Neither poison nor rabies were fun to have, even if you are a god.

**_Whenever something dangerous happened—you know, something with monsters—they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.'_**

Athena looked ready to hurt someone, preferably the mortals who had acted like this with her child, the war goddess side of her was pushing the wisdom aside, but Ares's had a firm grip on her.

"Ares, let me go." she hissed.

"As fun sight that would be, we have a rule by the three ladies you don't wish to cross and an oath going on." he told her while gesturing to his brother to continue.

"And at the moment he hasn't even got his aspect as Mars." Jay said to his fellow Romans who nodded their heads, they were also kind of seeing again a proof regards the balance of the two war gods.

**_Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away."_**

**_"How old were you?"_**

**_"Same age as when I started camp. Seven."_**

Frederic remembered how shocked he was when he got home and didn't find any trace from Annabeth, mostly that they last words for each other were those spoken in an argument.

**_"But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself."_**

**_"Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. _**

Athena smiled at this faintly, even if she could have not directly helped her poor child she had still found a way to get past with the loopholes in the law.

**_I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway."_**

Annabeth gave a sad smile at this, she had been so happy to have finally a family which cares, but then she had lost her sister and now found out that they could have saved her.

**_I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. So I listened to the sound of Grover snoring and gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by._**

**_Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. _**

"Which is Misty's favourite place." Lance said in an attempt to brighten the mood, no matter on how dangerous territory he was threading.

"Shut up." his cousin snapped at him, face slightly flushed.

"Why is that?" Dakota asked curiously as he watched the girl try to cover the other's mouth, but it was Mich who spoke up instead of Lance like she had expected.

"Because our dear mademoiselle here is a big fan of the Anita Blake series." he said grinning which confused those from the antique.

"You mean the books about the necromancer who gains the interest of a good number of creatures like vampires, lycanthropes and such?" Trickster asked the blushing girl.

"Yup, she mo…" but Mich found his mouth missing while Misty gave him an evil smile.

"This certainly reminds me on Hecate." Hermes whispered to Apollo.

"You will get it back after this chapter and no one should complain about the books I like, beside that, the Anita Blake series had at least more supernatural characters in it who have a better way to actually survive then those nightmares teenage girls droll over. I mean, sure if you read the main title _'Twilight'_ you get interested, the under titles are also good, but the books…" at this she shuddered, she preferred Asher any day over Edward! "Vampires who sparkle in the sunlight, seriously? Also werewolves can only be male, it is inheritable and no girl gets it except one because she is the twin of one of them?" this time it was Sally covering her mouth, she knew that her friend and cousin could go on about this for hours.

"Excuse me, but vampires and daylight don't go well together." Apollo said, he once attempted to date one, he was really cute and gods can't be affected by them so he didn't see any harm in it, but with him jumping in for Helios so often… well he got a really sunny aura and…let's just say that the date ended with him using a broom to gather up his would be bed partner's ashes from the ground.

"Also the werewolves would be having hysteric laughing attacks at that gibberish about only inheritable in the male chromosomes." Lupa spoke up while shaking her head, mortals and their attempts to write about the specieses they had forgotten about, she and Chiron had heard about enough terrible works and only few good ones like the one called _'Frankenstein, the modern Prometheus' _which was made by a daughter of Hebe.

**_Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city._**

The demigods started snickering at this while Annabeth shook her head and muttered _'Seaweed Brain',_ but at least were her thoughts drifting away from that what was read earlier.

**_"I want to do that," she sighed._**

**_"What?" I asked._**

**_"Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Percy?"_**

The legacies tried not to look grave as Athena beamed at the thought that her favourite building was still there, the Romans only looked uncomfortable again.

**_"Only in pictures."_**

**_"Someday, I'm going to see it in person. _**

Again the legacies did their best to not show their emotions, the Second Giant War in their ancient land had been terrible and not a time to fulfil one of your wishes and have it as a brilliantly happy memory.

**_I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years."_**

"Seeing how you will design New Greece you will get your wish." Katie told her smiling friend.

"And I think she might faint at the end of the fifth book." Ace whispered to Luke who looked in amusement at the younger version of his mother.

"That or scream in happiness." he answered back.

**_I laughed. "You? An architect?"_**

Hephaestus read on before anyone could react.

**_I don't know why, but I found it funny. Just the idea of Annabeth trying to sit quietly and draw all day._**

"I can kind of see his point regards the ADHD all demigods have." Chris said and Annabeth needed to agree that on first hearing it sounded strange.

**_Her cheeks flushed._**

**_"Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention."_**

Annabeth flinched at this before looking over at the sea god.

"I'm sorry." she said, but he waved it of.

"I got used to people sometimes looking more at the destructive side of my powers and not the positive ones." he told her in a calm tone while Athena looked at him strangely.

**_I watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below._**

**_"Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean."_**

"That is an understatement." Mitchell said from beside Malcolm.

**_"Can't we work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?"_**

The two gods eyed each other unsurely while the other gods took over the word.

"Beside the Titanomachia where they were forced to, only once." they said in union.

"The both of you looked after it as if you would be sick any second." Triton said while looking at both his father and Athena who were avoiding everyone's gazes.

**_Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete."_**

The gods nodded in agreement, Athena and Poseidon were still ignoring everyone.

**_"Then we can cooperate, too. Right?"_**

**_We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel._**

**_"I suppose," she said at last._**

"I think we have enough proof that this will not be a one-quest thing." Frank whispered to the others.

**_We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver._**

**_Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food."_**

Everyone snickered at this while Pan turned a bit to his side.

"D, seeing how I'm a bit stuck here, could I please get some grapes on a wooden plate with leaves below the grapes?" he asked the god who snapped his fingers to let the food appear. "Thanks."

**_"Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing."_**

"Huh?"

"Why do I have the feeling that this will be when Percy gets into trouble again." Orpheus said in a thoughtful tone when he suddenly felt someone grabbing his wrist, looking to his side he found himself face to face with Theseus who was leaning across the laps of both of his brother's to get to the blonde.

"Orpheus, don't make me drag you into a room, lock the door behind us and not open it till I emptied your quiver." he told the now pale musician.

**_"Sightseeing?"_**

**_"The Gateway Arch," she said. _**

"So…he will be jumping from the Arch…" Lee said nervously, he remembered visiting there once when they had visited his mortal grandmother there, it was pretty high up.

"I really don't want to know with what he will top that." Octavian said, he didn't know all to many options to accomplish that.

**_"This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?"_**

"She was pretty right with that." Luke whispered to Sally, their parents never got even near the renovated Arch after this.

**_Grover and I exchanged looks._**

**_I wanted to say no, but I figured that if Annabeth was going, we couldn't very well let her go alone._**

"Great, this misadventure will be m fault." Annabeth groaned, this quest will only get better and better.

**_Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters."_**

"Technically, the snack bar was monster free." Ace said while Mich was still pouting and glaring at Misty.

**_The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was okay._**

Annabeth sighed, at least he will find the facts she was telling them interesting.

**_I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" I murmured to Grover._**

**_He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Under ground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything."_**

**_But something felt wrong to me. I had a feeling we shouldn't be here._**

Cue groans from everyone and Annabeth looking down, she was the one who dragged them there.

**_"Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?"_**

**_Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?"_**

**_"Well, Hade—"_**

**_Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place... You mean, our friend downstairs?"_**

"You could have used something better, even the fact that I'm related to two of you." Hades said while shaking his head. "Beside that, if by bellow you meant the Underworld, I'm not the only male god living down there."

**_"Um, right," I said. "Our friend _****_way _****_downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?"_**

Those from the Underworld raised their eyebrows; a hat and helm were not the same.

**_"You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power._**

"Well, one of the two in our time." Henry whispered to Enysswe before glancing at the Queen of the Underworld.

**_I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting."_**

**_"He was there?" I asked._**

Hades looked annoyed while his siblings shifted in their seats.

**_She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus_**

Cue fidgetting and some guilty glances.

**—****_the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true..."_**

**_"It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?"_**

"That is all correct." Hades said in amusement by the mix of awed and slightly scarred looks he was getting from the demigods while outside his children looked proud at the mention of their father's symbol of power.

**_"But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked._**

"Because looking at the carnage my two younger brothers have caused with their argument am I probably stuck either doing paperwork or try getting a traffic jam solved." Hades said, even the thought about it made him feel a migraine coming his way.

**_Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks._**

**_"We don't," Grover said._**

"We do." the Stolls said in union.

"Idiots." Katie mumbled to herself.

**_"Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," I said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?"_**

There were a few snickers at the random topic change.

**_I'd almost mastered my jumpy nerves when I saw the tiny little elevator car we were going to ride to the top of the Arch, and I knew I was in trouble. I hate confined places. They make me nuts._**

"With the ADHD it is no wonder, but I fear that the fact that he is my son will this be worse. The sea doesn't like to be restrained." Poseidon said while his other sons also nodded their heads in agreement.

**_We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar._**

"Grandfather will be in for it again." Nathan mumbled to himself.

**_I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it._**

The demigods shifted at this uneasily, no sane person would use such a small dog for a blind person.

**_We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it._**

**_"No parents?" the fat lady asked us._**

**_She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp._**

**_"They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights."_**

"At least one of the three can lie." Hermes said in mock sorrow.

**_"Oh, the poor darlings."_**

**_The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious._**

No one liked the feeling of foreboding.

**_I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?"_**

**_"No," the lady told me._**

**_She smiled, as if that cleared everything up._**

**_At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick._**

"Si…you mean to tell me that in the seventh book he will make a jump from something which is higher then six hundred feet?" Poseidon asked in a strange tone while everyone was gaping at the legacies.

"He sure will."

**_Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor._**

"I think that this would have been the moment aunt Thalia would have run." Nathan whispered to his co-praetor, his aunt was still not over her aerophobia and her slight attempts with both his dad and Phobos also didn't help much. Well besides leaving both men with a black eye that is.

**_She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but luckily for me the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes._**

**_I steered Grover and Annabeth toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and I was about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me._**

Everyone bit back a groan of frustration.

"I really don1t know what mom has against him." Felix said in frustration not that he knew that outside his mother was asking the same question from herself again.

**_The park ranger said, "Next car, sir."_**

**_"We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you."_**

**_But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. I'll see you guys at the bottom."_**

"Well, he kind of was right…" Connor said carefully.

**_Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp._**

**_Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua._**

**_I smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth._**

"Forked tongue?" Most said.

**_Wait a minute._**

**_Forked tongue?_**

**_Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at me._**

Poseidon and his children tensed again.

**_"Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here."_**

**_"Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!"_**

**_His parents pulled him back._**

"They had good instinct." Sally said.

**_The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips._**

**_"Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist."_**

**_Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?"_**

"Why do I think that she is not just a lady who is nuts like all those who call their dogs their children." Travis said nervously, he and Connor had such a neighbour a batty lady with five of those small rat like beasts, she even had bottles for them. It was freaky.

Hephaestus suddenly choked on his breath as he tried not to bust out in flames, he was not sure if the book was fire proff, reading a bit ahead he was sure that his father would be again in for a good deal of yelling and threatening. This was really going overboard to send her from all things after a hero who _is_ trying to get his Master Bolt back. Maybe he should add something to that golden net His mother will use on his father with his uncle so that Zeus is really forced to become a better ruler.

**_"Chimera, _****_dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make."_**

"Oh, now that clears it all up that is nice, MY TWELVE YEARS OLD BROTHER IS NOW FACING A CHIMERA!"

"I think, Theseus might have broken." Chris whispered to Jake as both looked at the hero while both Bellerophon and Orion grabbed a yelping Orpheus and pushed him over to the panicking man that he should do something, he was the one with the most knowledge about how to fix people not them.

"Well, at least we know that he would be the overprotective parent type." Jason whispered to Odysseus before they looked over to Poseidon who looked pale again.

**_She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were side ways slits, like a reptile's._**

Everyone felt their eyes widen and some even prayed that this was an emposai or better a dracaena.

**_The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar._**

**_The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster._**

"With a monster so close even the mist has difficulty." Athena said, at least was Annabeth not up there anymore, said girl on the other hand was trying to keep her breathing under control.

**_The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA—RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS_**

"All those sound so pleasant." Triton said in a tight tone, he was really staring to hate the fact that he seemed to have developed some kind of attachment to one of his half-brothers who was a magnet for trouble.

**—****_IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS—EXT. 954._**

"Huh, it has an extention's number?" asked a confused looking Ace as everyone turned to the two legacies from the Underworld.

"Of course, one would be shocked about how good the perception for both phone and internet are in the Underworld." Henry said, there was a ground why he only used torrent sites when he was down there he could download almost everything in less then two hours or even faster depending on how many files he is downloading and how bit they are.

"I'm jealous." Lance whined together with his dad and uncle, those from the antique, well beside those not panicking, looked confused.

**_I realized I hadn't even uncapped my sword._**

"Not the time for that." Clarisse snapped, she would never admit that she was worried about the guy, but she was even a kid of the war god would want a break after facing already three major monsters, one even twice with additions.

**_My hands were numb. I was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge._**

Theseus whimpered at this while Orpheus tried to calm him down, not that it worked and the others were also to busy to be worried to give him tips.

**_The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!"_**

There was a deadly silence while Hephaestus covered his ears, just in time when the storm broke out.

"YOU SENT ECHIDNA AT HIM!" screamed almost everyone in horror, it was one thing sending out monsters after a hero, but Echidna?

"WHAT WERE YOU TINKING ZEUS!" Poseidon yelled as he tried to get free from the grip both Amphitrite and Triton had on him while Zeus tired not to show that he was actually frightened.

"I should have trained him more intensely." Chiron mumbled to himself guiltily when he noticed Lupa's paw on his arm.

"You could have not known that Lord Jupiter sends out her of all creatures, you were only thinking along the lines of normal monsters." she told him in a tone which indicated that she will maim him if he doesn't stop acting pathetic.

"Dad could not have been serious." Jay said in complet shock when he suddenly noticed Perseus kneeling beside him.

"Our father, tends to overreact on cases, but at least we know that Percy will be fine." he tried reassuring his younger brother who still looked disappointedly at their father and he shared his sentiments on this one.

"Hephaestus, read." Zeus pleaded to his son in an attempt to get out of the situation, but the look Hera was giving him made it clear that by the next break the two of them will have a serious talk with each other no matter if he likes it or not.

**_I stared at her. All I could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?"_**

The demigods groaned and face-palmed before Octavian turned to those from the antique.

"In Australia, a continent till now not discovered there lives a small animal which was named after her." he explained as now also the others groaned, mostly after Misty projected a picture abut a small furred animal with a long nose and thorned back out to them.

"She will not like that." Odysseus noted carefully, that boy could really not stop himself from commenting on the worst of times.

"Why does it need to be him." Theseus whined, he was now really sure that he will have white hair after they finish these books.

**_She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage._**

"Yup, she doesn't like it at all." Frank stated in a nervous tone.

**_"I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me._**

Glancing over at the still present picture everyone turned back to the book, they were kind of getting her sentiments on that matter.

**_For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!"_**

Poseidon made a desperate grab for his trident, but Amphitrite was faster and held it out of his reach.

**_The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to leap aside and dodge the bite._**

**_I ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors._**

**_I couldn't let them get hurt. _**

"He is a good hero." Hestia said softly while the others needed to nod at her words.

**_I uncapped my sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible._**

"He's getting real good at pissing off the wrong people," Chris noted, not sure if he should be worried and avoid standing to close to Percy if on a quest or to be awed by his boldness.

"You have no idea, how good he is." Ace told his father, if it weren't really for the Fates, Lady Artemis, Lord Poseidon and even sometimes Lady Hestia was he sure that his uncle would be dead by now.

"Though sometimes he really needs better nicknames." Lance noted from beside his cousin.

"I personally love the Queen Dritface comment." both Henry and Enysswe said, their voices dripping with venom as they said the name.

"Who is that?" Persephone asked her grandchildren, she had an unsettling feeling by the way they had said the name or how their eyes had darkened as did those by the other legacies.

"You will see after the fifth book." Sally said while forcing her tone to stay even, her poor parents had gone through so much horrible in Tartaros, but they had been together, her uncle Nico had been all alone when he wandered through it from the beginning till the end, fought for his life alone, was tortured horribly and almost died, she didn't even dare thinking what that monster did to her sweet and kind aunt Hazel.

When it become clear that no one will comment further Hephaestus returned to reading, the chapter would be soon over anyway.

**_Before I could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at me._**

**_I dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, it nearly seared off my eye brows._**

There were some sharp intakes of breath.

**_Where I had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges._**

**_Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument._**

"The first of many." Nathan whispered to Luke.

"As good is it that he also thinks about that, this is not the time." Beckendorf said, the Arch can be fixed, yes it will have a new part on it, but the body is harder to get right again.

**_Riptide was now a shining bronze blade in my hands, and as the Chimera turned, I slashed at its neck._**

**_That was my fatal mistake. _**

"Percy, the _'f'_ –word is not helping my case here." Orpheus called who was sure that if Theseus continues clinging to him like that, that then he will surely have at least two or three broken ribs in the best case.

**_The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar._**

Cue groans and curses.

**_I tried to regain my balance, but I was so worried about defending myself against the fiery lion's mouth, I completely forgot about the serpent tail until it whipped around and sank its fangs into my calf._**

"NO!" everyone screamed and some of the girls had even started crying, no matter if they knew that he would be fine in the end, the things they read had drawn them in.

"That is a potent poison, but it is weak against large amount of water." Will mumbled to himself, he remembered researching Chimera poison, he even managed to get a small sample of it by accident on a field trip with his school, he was never in his life more glad for the existence of stalactite caves then on that day.

**_My whole leg was on fire. I tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around my ankles and pulled me off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River._**

**_I managed to get to my feet, but I knew I had lost. I was weaponless. I could feel deadly poison racing up to my chest. I remembered Chiron saying that Anaklusmos would always return to me, but there was no pen in my pocket. Maybe it had fallen too far away. Maybe it only returned when it was in pen form. I didn't know, and I wasn't going to live long enough to figure it out._**

"It depends on the distance how fast it returns." Sally explained, she really hated hearing about her dad being hurt, mostly if it is her dad who is narrating the fact.

**_I backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?"_**

There were several growls at this comment, but everyone was to worried to interrupt by commenting.

**_The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish me off now that I was beaten._**

**_I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just ... die._**

Artemis shook her head, this boy no, man was turly a hero she had not seen before and if he could mantain this compasionate heart through all the hardships he is facing then she could slowly see why she would accept him even more. Maybe she could ask her grandniece by the next break if it would be possible for her to bring in some of her Hunters.

**_I tried to think, but my whole body was on fire. My head felt dizzy. I had no sword. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared._**

"Who wouldn't." Clarisse muttered under her breath so that no one could hear her.

**_There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Far, far below, the river glittered._**

Will nodded his head, if Percy jumps he will be fine, the poison will be neutralized, if it would have been a manticore then it would be trickier to get it out, and the fact that he didn't move around so much meant that the poison also spread much slower through him.

**_If I died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone?_**

The girls were now crying even harder, mostly Annabeth who could not imagine how she could hold out down there at the bottom of the Arch, she wanted to go there, she was the ground that Percy had gotten hurt like that.

**_"If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline."_**

"Is she taunting him?" Dakota asked, but Will spoke up suddenly.

"She is more like helping him without knowing." he told the now confused group, crap he shouldn't have spoke up, but luckily had En stepped in to help her mother.

"Chimera poison is weak against large amounts of water." she said.

"I remember now really good that you two know this, it truly has a weakness against it seeing how the poison is generated partly for the flames inside the Chimera's body and water extinguishes fire." Hades said thoughtfully at which Poseidon perked up.

"Percy, I don't care how high that is jump." he told the book while Lee patted his younger brother on the back.

"You are certainly a good healer." he told Will while Apollo beamed at his son.

**_Yeah, right, I thought. I'd read somewhere that jumping into water from a couple of stories up was like jumping onto solid asphalt. From here, I'd splatter on impact._**

"This is what she meant by proving his bloodline, as a son of Lord Poseidon he would not be harmed by the water." Michael spoke up suddenly as he realized this.

**_The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for an other blast._**

**_"You have no faith," Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little coward. Better you die now. The gods are faithless. The poison is in your heart."_**

Many glared either at the book or at Zeus who really wondered if he should have just stayed in bed.

**_She was right: I was dying. I could feel my breath slowing down. Nobody could save me, not even the gods._**

"No son, there is a way just jump please." Poseidon pleaded, the sooner Percy gets into the water the better.

**_I backed up and looked down at the water. I remembered the warm glow of my father's smile when I was a baby. He must have seen me. He must have visited me when I was in my cradle._**

"He did." the Jackson siblings said in union.

**_I remembered the swirling green trident that had appeared above my head the night of capture the flag, when Poseidon had claimed me as his son._**

**_But this wasn't the sea. This was the Mississippi, dead center of the USA. There was no Sea God here._**

"Even then, I have a connection to all bodies of water." the god said.

**_"Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward my face._**

**_"Father, help me," I prayed._**

"I will son, I promise." said father answered in a gentle tone.

**_I turned and jumped. My clothes on fire, poison coursing through my veins, I plummeted toward the river._**

"This was the last sentence." Hephaestus said.

"Give me the book, I want to know if Percy will be really fine." Poseidon spoke up and Hephaestus brought the book over to his uncle who opened it on the next page.

**_I Become a Know Fugitive_**

The Stolls thought that it would be inaporitive to whine about the fact that Percy is fulfilling one of their life dreams while Misty magiced Mich's mouth back, though he failed to notice.

_To be continued…_


	15. What is this talk about gifts?

A/N: so here is a new chapter featuring like by my other two reading fics a double issue and a new song which this time I don't need to translate so you can guess that I don't own the story. Also before people complain, remember the demigods and legacies had went pretty far back into the past and some things mentioned in the myths have not happened till now like the person mentioned in the song.

* * *

XV. What is this talk about gifts?

**_I'd love to tell you I had some deep revelation on my way down, that I came to terms with my own mortality, laughed in the face of death, etcetera._**

"I think he laughed on occasions after one prank or the other at uncle Nico and maybe a few times when En was over when we were little, but not others with death aspect, even when he met Thanatos…though the first time was not funny." Luke said when his grandfather and uncle Theseus let out a noise like a strangled mouse while Orpheus groaned, he was slowly getting the other to calm down and now that was for a naught.

"Thanatos!" the two squeaked.

"Seventh book." he replied.

"Uhm…didn't you mention earlier that it were the happenings of that book inspiring the happenings of the second book of your grandmother?" Octavian asked nervously while his uncle gave him a pained look asking _'Why-do-you-need-to-also-make-it-worse?'_.

"Yep." Luke replied.

"You know that he is a good person, right?" Hades asked with En nodding in agreement.

"We are sorry Lord Plu…I mean Lord Hades, it is only that most mortal-living beings don't feel comfortable in the presence of Death." Jay tried to explain.

"Poseidon, should I read anstead?" Amphitrite asked her husband who only shook his head in the negative.

"I can do this." he said, but his tone sounded unsure.

**_The truth? My only thought was: Aaaaggghhhhh!_**

"Yup, that sums it up perfectly." Travis told his siblings.

"I hate this summing up." Theseus grumbled, still clinging to Orpheus who was waiting when he would hear the first rib snap.

**_The river raced toward me at the speed of a truck. Wind ripped the breath from my lungs. Steeples and skyscrapers and bridges tumbled in and out of my vision._**

**_And then: _****_Flaaa-boooom!_**

"Good, this was not the sound of a body hitting solid ground." Apollo said while occasionally glancing over to his oldest son who was trying to get out of his cousin's deadly grasp, he will later take care about those bruises, the others meanwhile looked relived at the news.

**_A whiteout of bubbles._**

"That is good." Jake said and if Lord Hades, Will and Enysswe were right, then the poison should be soon cleared from Percy's body.

**_I sank through the murk, sure that I was about to end up embedded in a hundred feet of mud and lost forever._**

"That can't happen to my children." Poseidon said feeling glad that the poison will be soon useless, but as he read further his face darkened. "I'm feeling the others annoyance." he said before continuing.

**_But my impact with the water hadn't hurt._**

**_I was falling slowly now, bubbles trickling up through my fingers. I settled on the river bottom soundlessly. A catfish the size of my stepfather_**

"That certainly is a big one." Malcolm said in a stunned tone.

**_lurched away into the gloom. Clouds of silt and disgusting garbage—beer bottles, old shoes, plastic bags—swirled up all around me._**

Everyone scowled again, but the water gods and spirits bristled the mot at the thought how the river looked.

"I'm resisting the urge to ask you to bring some of those responsible for this here so that I can trample them into the ground." Pan hissed in annoyance at the way nature gets destroyed.

"I can't do that even if asked, partly because it was not in our plans and also because my grandaunts have not given their permission for doing so." Enysswe replied, she knew how far she can go then even as their grandniece she was bound by certain rules she needs to follow.

"To bad." Triton said, he would have loved to give those mortals a piece of his mind, daring to destroy the waters like that.

"Poseidon, continue." Hera told her brother who nodded his face still in a scowl.

**_At that point, I realized a few things: first, I had not been flattened into a pancake._**

There were some snickers at this, but mostly from relief because even this one sentence showed that he was not thinking about pain which meant that the poison was already weakening.

"How long till the poison is fully neutralized?" Bellerophon asked the blonde son of Apollo, he was mostly looking for this info because he had not long ago gotten the task to kill a Chimera and plus informations could always come into handy, mostly now that he knew that his father had given him a huge advantage against that type of beast.

"Looking at the fact that it was probably only two to three minutes after the bite and he didn't move around much, this means that he needs to stay there for roughly five minutes, but the pain should already not noticeable only if he should be concentrating on it." Will explained not even noticing the thoughtful look on Persephone's face.

"That is good to hear." Silena said as she looked over to a relieved looking Annabeth.

**_I had not been barbecued. I couldn't even feel the Chimera poison boiling in my veins anymore._**

"Yes, Will kind of gave us an update with both your cousin and uncle about that." Connor said grinning, he was glad that Percy was fine, he really would have not thought that such a bad poison could be cured by something so simple as staying for a while under water.

**_I was alive, which was good._**

"Of course is it good Seaweed Brain." Annabeth said, she was so relieved that Percy was unhurt, if they should not be able to catch the thief before taking the Master Bolt she swore to herself that she would not drag him into this type of danger this time around.

Suddenly Poseidon snorted in amusement, this boy was really interesting and some of his antics reminded him on how Triton had been when he had been still only four decades old.

**_Second realization: I wasn't wet._**

At this broke a good deal of people out laughing both in and outside of the palace giving Orpheus the chance to breath again when Theseus relaxed and let go of him while Perseus pouted as he remembered an incident in the past with his cousin.

"Nice realization." Chris laughed, he thought one would notice that faster.

**_I mean, I could feel the coolness of the water. I could see where the fire on my clothes had been quenched. But when I touched my own shirt, it felt perfectly dry._**

"That is so cool." Trickster said.

"To be kind of honest it seems kind of that Percy already has more powers then most demigods." Malcolm said as the god nodded their heads.

"That is because the amount of powers a demigod can inherit depend on the number of power spheres of their godly parent and on the type of their domain." Athena explained to the demigods. "As you know most of my attributes are bound to knowledge and one to war and even then to strategicall warfare, this means that you inherit a great amount of knowledge and creative skills and it goes so on by other demigods also, but it depends on you how you harness your inheritance."

"That would explain some of the differences between the inherited skills of some demigods in Camp." Katie said while exchanging glances with Pollux and Castor, they had also noticed that there are differences in the amount of powers they had inherited from their parents even thought both have powers bound to nature and plant life.

"Though we still need to admit that when it comes to the knowledge about inherited powers and how to use them in the best ways is uncle Nico the best." Nathan said as everyone turned to him, the look on his grandfather's face looked pretty amusing.

"But doesn't Percy have more powers?" Beckendorf asked curiously.

"He does and those powers are strong, but dad had also said that uncle Nico is still more skilled with his powers then him and aunt Hazel is still the option that her brother and our dad are the two most powerful demigods she had ever meet." Sally put in which drew a smile to her grandfather's face as well to that of her granduncle who looked more then proud about this knowledge, though the same could not be said about Zeus who looked annoyed while Jay looked like someone who will be busy training the moment he gets home.

"I'm now really curious about your uncle." Odysseus said, he was truly curious about the father of the Fates lieutenant, he had already a good look at Orpheus's little brother and he had some guesses about the second 'mother' so now he only needed the father and already these few informations were interesting.

"He will only have a short appearance in the Titan's Curse" Odysseus and some of the others noticed the careful way Sally said the title and how she tried to not look at Enysswe "And then he will be in the books more often." she explained before turning to her grandfather. "Granddad, you can continue now."

"Of course Sally."

**_I looked at the garbage floating by and snatched an old cigarette lighter._**

**_No way, I thought._**

**_I flicked the lighter. It sparked. A tiny flame appeared, right there at the bottom of the Mississippi._**

"This is brilliant, all those pranks we can pull with Percy's help." Travis whispered to Connor who nodded his head eagerly before both were wacked over the head by Katie as both Lance and Misty snickered at their dads.

**_I grabbed a soggy hamburger wrapper out of the current and immediately the paper turned dry._**

**_I lit it with no problem. As soon as I let it go, the flames sputtered out. The wrapper turned back into a slimy rag. Weird._**

There were more snickers at this, he knew that he was the child of Poseidon and found it weird how he could manipulate things in water.

**_But the strangest thought occurred to me only last:_**

Here Poseidon let out a breathy laugh, yes he really was reminded on Triton when he was sill little, though his son would of course deny it vehemently and by the amused look on Amphitrite's face was she also since Percy started listing the things he noticed reminded of their child.

"What is so funny uncle?" Hermes asked curiously if it made the sea god laugh then it is surely good, his uncle had a good sense of humour.

"It is only what Percy stated as last." he answered his nephew, eyes still dancing in mirth.

"Then don't keep us waiting uncle P." Apollo whined he also wanted to know and by the looks on the other's faces they wanted it to.

**_I was breathing. I was underwater, and I was breathing normally._**

This really sent the listener over the edge and they broke out laughing with Apollo and Hermes almost falling from their thrones again while the demigods who were already on the ground were rolling on the floor from laughing. It was really good to be laughing after the fright of the last chapters, they all needed this.

After five minutes of amusement Poseidon could finally continue again, be the looks of it would this be a short chapter.

**_I stood up, thigh-deep in mud. My legs felt shaky. My hands trembled._**

"This may be because of the adrenalin has gone back." Lee said in a thoughtful tone, well this would be perfectly understandable seeing what he had gone through a few minutes ago, but it seemed that Will had been right the poison had lost its effect. He will have to later corner his brother and talk with him then this knowledge was not coincidental, he was sure about that.

**_I should've been dead._**

"A mortal would be, but not a demigod." Hades said, they had a better resistance for most things which was good, they were harder to get sorted with their paperwork regards their deeds during their life.

**_The fact that I wasn't seemed like ... well, a miracle. I imagined a woman's voice, a voice that sounded a bit like my mother: _****_Percy, what do you say?_**

"Huh?" some asked in confusion, drained adrenalin doesn't carry hallucinations with it or does it?

"Good that he remembers his manners." Hestia said softly.

**_"Um ... thanks." Underwater, I sounded like I did on recordings, like a much older kid. "Thank you ... Father."_**

Poseidon smiled at him warmly, he tried to always listen to his children's prayers.

**_No response. Just the dark drift of garbage downriver, the enormous catfish gliding by, the flash of sunset on the water's surface far above, turning everything the color of butterscotch._**

**_Why had Poseidon saved me?_**

"If it is possible to help out your demigod child, then the loopholes in the law forbidding the gods to directly interfere with their lives should be used." Hades said in a clam tone which made everyone look at him with wide eyes while the legacies exchanged small smiles, Hades had in the past used more then those look holes to try to be there for his children.

"That is true brother, they may need to grow up in the mortal world, but that does not lift the fact that you are their parents." Hestia told the divine members of her family as the demigods were still busy looking at the Lord of Death and Riches, he was really different then what they had thought.

"Both of you are right." Poseidon said while Hera kicked Zeus in the shin as he tried to turn away and ignore the whole thing.

**_The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt._**

"He should not be, from what I we have read so far most demigods have a ground to be angry with their godly parent." Amphitrite said while the gods looked sadly at their children who were again avoiding their gazes.

"This is why we are doing this, to correct past mistakes long before they could happen or be started and escalate in the future." Sally said in a determined tone, the others nodding since the reading had started they were also starting to see this no matter if they wanted to admit it or not.

**_So I'd gotten lucky a few times before. Against a thing like the Chimera, I had never stood a chance._**

"Modesty is good for a hero." Hestia said with a little smile on her lips.

"Beside that, now he can finish that fight easily." Ace said grinning.

**_Those poor people in the Arch were probably toast. I couldn't protect them. I was no hero. Maybe I should just stay down here with the catfish, join the bottom feeders._**

"Though confidence problems are not." Ares said with a snort before he was dosed in cold water.

**_Fump-fump-fump._****_ A riverboat's paddlewheel churned above me, swirling the silt around._**

**_There, not five feet in front of me, was my sword, its gleaming bronze hilt sticking up in the mud._**

**_I heard that woman's voice again: _****_Percy, take the sword. Your father believes in you. _****_This time, I knew the voice wasn't in my head. I wasn't imagining it. Her words seemed to come from everywhere, rippling through the water like dolphin sonar._**

**_"Where are you?" I called aloud._**

"Ah, seems as if I have sent a messenger from court and before you open your mouth Zeus, there are no rules against that only that a messenger can only be sent one time per quest." Poseidon told his younger brother who looked annoyed about being told off, worse Poseidon was right he was playing by the rules and he could not reprimand him from doing so in the future if no more messengers appear from him.

"That info is good to know." Annabeth said to the others sitting around her.

**_Then, through the gloom, I saw her—a woman the color of the water, a ghost in the current, floating just above the sword. She had long billowing hair, and her eyes, barely visible, were green like mine._**

**_A lump formed in my throat. I said, "Mom?"_**

"The two look somewhat similar, but not fully though the water was at that time pretty murky from all that garbage." Luke said, she had sometimes babysitter them when they visited their grandfather and the adults needed to take care about something.

"This might be the ground why I sent her, in hope that he will listen to her more willingly." Poseidon mused before continuing.

**_No, child, only a messenger, though your mother's fate is not as hope less as you believe._**

Knowing that she was alive in the future was this new not a big surprise.

**_Go to the beach in Santa Monica._**

**_"What?"_**

**_It is your father's will. Before you descend into the Underworld, you must go to Santa Monica. Please, Percy, I cannot stay long. The river here is too foul for my presence._**

"Tell me that I did take care about that river." Poseidon asked testily while looking at the legacies who nodded their heads. "Good."

**_"But ..." I was sure this woman was my mother, or a vision of her, anyway. "Who—how did you—"_**

**_There was so much I wanted to ask, the words jammed up in my throat._**

**_I cannot stay, brave one, _****_the woman said. She reached out, and I felt the current brush my face like a caress. _****_You must go to Santa Monica! And, Percy, do not trust the gifts..._**

"How can gifts be bad?" Travis asked in confusion.

"Believe me gifts can be seen easily seen as both a blessing and a curse, it also depends on the intention one gives someone a gift." Henry said, he knew how his own mother had for long years seen her powers as a curse and there was also the thing with the gift Prometheus used to test Percy.

"That is true." Athena said nodding before looking over at Poseidon who got the message that he should continue so that the others may also understand this.

**_Her voice faded._**

**_"Gifts?" I asked. "What gifts? Wait!"_**

"It will come up soon." Mich said when he saw some of the others opening their mouths to ask.

**_She made one more attempt to speak, but the sound was gone. Her image melted away. If it was my mother, I had lost her again._**

Perseus could understand his cousin pretty well in this, he loved his mother and would do anything to protect her, he knew if he would be faced with this feeling of loosing her in such ways he would be stricken by grief.

**_I felt like drowning myself._**

"He has the wrong father for that." Michael told his brothers.

**_The only problem: I was immune to drowning._**

The legacies tried not to flinch as they remembered what will come in the eight book.

**_Your father believes in you, _****_she had said._**

**_She'd also called me brave ... unless she was talking to the catfish._**

Cue more laughter.

**_I waded toward Riptide and grabbed it by the hilt. The Chimera might still be up there with its snaky, fat mother,_**

"And he is back to insulting monsters." Frank snickered.

**_waiting to finish me off. At the very least, the mortal police would be arriving, trying to figure out who had blown a hole in the Arch. If they found me, they'd have some questions._**

**_I capped my sword, stuck the ballpoint pen in my pocket. "Thank you, Father," I said again to the dark water._**

**_Then I kicked up through the muck and swam for the surface._**

**_I came ashore next to a floating McDonald's._**

Again En threw an annoyed look at her relatives who were doing their best not to snicker, as said before it was not their fault that dead liked McDonalds products, they had once tried it with KFC, didn't work to well seems only the living liked those better.

**_A block away, every emergency vehicle in St. Louis was surrounding the Arch. Police helicopters circled overhead. The crowd of onlookers reminded me of Times Square on New Year's Eve._**

**_A little girl said, "Mama! That boy walked out of the river."_**

**_"That's nice, dear," her mother said, craning her neck to watch the ambulances._**

**_"But he's dry!"_**

**_"That's nice, dear."_**

"Children can see through the mist because they are still open minded, as they grow most loose that ability though." Misty explained.

"I still don't know if this is good or sad." Mitchell said and the others agreed with him, it was hard to tell.

**_A news lady was talking for the camera: "Probably not a terrorist attack, we're told, but it's still very early in the investigation. The damage, as you can see, is very serious._**

There were a good number of flinches at this, but well a Chimera trashed the place of course the damage would be anything, but light.

**_We're trying to get to some of the survivors, to question them about eyewitness reports of someone falling from the Arch."_**

**_Survivors._****_ I felt a surge of relief. _**

The others were feeling the same, Echidna and her children could cause terrible carnage and didn't care about the loss of human lives so hearing that there were survivors was a more then welcome news.

**_Maybe the park ranger and that family made it out safely. I hoped Annabeth and Grover were okay._**

Annabeth felt a new scourge of guilt, she had been the one to take him up there where he nearly died and he was still more worried about her and Grover, when Percy arrives at camp she really will need to give her best to be more different to him then in these books.

**_I tried to push through the crowd to see what was going on inside the police line._**

**_"... an adolescent boy," _**

And everyone was back to groaning.

"Come on, give that guy a break." Chris said while a bit farther Chiron was doing with Lupa an extreme training plan for the time he gets Percy under his wings.

**_another reporter was saying. "Channel Five has learned that surveillance cameras show an adolescent boy going wild on the observation deck, somehow setting off this freak explosion. Hard to believe, John, but that's what we're hearing. Again, no confirmed fatalities …"_**

"I'm not liking the first part, but the second part that the mortals were not hurt is good to hear." Katie said.

"We would not even need to worry bout that if a certain god didn't send Echidna from all monsters after him." Hara growled, during these readings she was really starting to see how ridiculous Zeus was with his assumptions not only towards Hades, but the way he ruled.

"Agreed." the rest of the council said while giving dark looks to the squirming god.

"Brother…" Zeus tried, if they keep reading will the others calm down, he didn't even do any of these things in their time.

"Only because the chapter is soon over." Poseidon said and continued reading, much to Zeus relief.

**_I backed away, trying to keep my head down. I had to go a long way around the police perimeter. Uniformed officers and news reporters were everywhere._**

**_I'd almost lost hope of ever finding Annabeth and Grover when a familiar voice bleated, "Perrr-cy!"_**

There were a few snickers at this from the more immature boys.

**_I turned and got tackled by Grover's bear hug—or goat hug. He said, "We thought you'd gone to Hades the hard way!"_**

"Actually, that is the easier way." come it from Hades, Persephone, Enysswe, Henry and those gods who resided most of the time in the Underworld and were outside.

"Uh…nice to know of your option." Orion said carefully.

**_Annabeth stood behind him, trying to look angry, but even she seemed relieved to see me._**

"I'm sure that I was." Annabeth said with a small smile, she only heard what had happened and was scarred for Percy, she could hardly imagine how she felt seeing the fire and a person falling out and not know what had happened.

**_"We can't leave you alone for five minutes! What happened?"_**

"This I mom's way to say how worried she was." Sally explained at which Ares started snickering before explaining himself as Poseidon readied himself to give him another shower.

"Athena would have reacted the same way." he said as the goddess blushed while glaring at him as the others relaxed, some even joining in with the snickers.

**_"I sort of fell."_**

"What a way to put it that he nearly died." Reyna said with a roll of her eyes as some of the boys started laughing, really now she was sure that this guy did not destroy her first home out of malice.

"At least we know now that he is really fine." Gwen told her praetor.

**_"Percy! Six hundred and thirty feet?"_**

"I'm really worried with what he will top this or why he will top a jump from such a height." Jason whispered to Odysseus who needed to agree with the other.

**_Behind us, a cop shouted, "Gangway!" The crowd parted, and a couple of paramedics hustled out, rolling a woman on a stretcher. I recognized her immediately as the mother of the little boy who'd been on the observation deck. She was saying, "And then this huge dog, this huge fire-breathing Chihuahua—"_**

"Well, now we know how much mortals see if something happens really close to them." Lee said in a thoughtful tone.

**_"Okay, ma'am," the paramedic said. "Just calm down. Your family is fine. The medication is starting to kick in."_**

"Seems that the mortals ignorance kicks in again." Clarisse said huffing.

**_"I'm not crazy! This boy jumped out of the hole and the monster disappeared." Then she saw me. "There he is! That's the boy!"_**

**_I turned quickly and pulled Annabeth and Grover after me. We disappeared into the crowd._**

**_"What's going on?" Annabeth demanded. "Was she talking about the Chihuahua on the elevator?"_**

"Yes, that and its mother his uncle sent after him." Demeter growled angrily while glaring at Zeus, she still did not forgive him for setting their daughter up with their oldest brother and as she now found out will she get a true garden meaning that she will be even more reluctant to leave that dreadfully dark place and with the stunts Zeus pulls will it be even more show her that she is in a better place down there.

**_I told them the whole story of the Chimera, Echidna, my high-dive act, and the underwater lady's message._**

Annabeth was sure that this must have frightened both her and Grover.

**_"Whoa," said Grover. "We've got to get you to Santa Monica! You can't ignore a summons from your dad."_**

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement.

**_Before Annabeth could respond, we passed another reporter doing a news break, and I almost froze in my tracks when he said, "Percy Jackson._**

Cue groans.

**_That's right, Dan. Channel Twelve has learned that the boy who may have caused this explosion fits the description of a young man wanted by authorities for a serious New Jersey bus accident three days ago. _****_And _****_the boy is believed to be traveling west. For our viewers at home, here is a photo of Percy Jackson."_**

"Granddad Hermes had a good deal of work to do so that those news never leave the states." Misty said while Hermes bit back a groan, more work that will be everything he needs while two of his sons bit their tongues to not groan from jealousy, mostly after catching Chiron's gaze which clearly told them that he will not allow them to blow up national monuments.

**_We ducked around the news van and slipped into an alley._**

**_"First things first," I told Grover. "We've got to get out of town!"_**

**_Somehow, we made it back to the Amtrak station with out getting spotted. _**

"Which is good." Dakota said.

**_We got on board the train just before it pulled out for Denver. The train trundled west as darkness fell, police lights still pulsing against the St. Louis skyline behind us._**

"This was the end." Poseidon said, but before he could ask who wanted to read the next chapter, but Zeus had lunged forth and grabbed the book.

"I will read next." he said hurriedly and started reading to avoid more glares.

**_A God Buys us Cheeseburgers_**

Silence, then…

"WHO WAS THE GOD WHO DARED TO GO AGAINST THE LAWS AND PERSONALY INTERFERE WITH A QUEST!" Zeus screamed in anger while all other divinities looked througfully perplexed so they failed to notice Ace flinching or the looks the other legacies exchanged.

"I would say…"

"No Athena, only because I have sent a messenger doesn't mean that I will personally interfere with what the children do, I did what I could according to the ancient laws and noting more." Poseidon told his obnoxious niece who was looking at him calculatingly.

"I would not be so…" but a shadow swishing past his head made Zeus halt in his sentence, his eyes fixating on tri-colour ones as the others looked on in shock, well a few with pride.

"I thought you wanted to read this chapter and not play the accusing and blame-shifting game you seem so fond about Lord Zeus." En said coldly as the air started to fill with the smell of ozone making everyone shift and be ready to interfere. "Also to your information the third book will have the greatest track record of interfering gods in a quest since the Trojan War."

"Then all those who will interfere in that book will be punished for doing so." Zeus said firmly while the demigods were still looking perplexed about the fact that the gods will personally step into a quest.

"Erm…grandfather, maybe you should wait till the end of that book with the decision." Nathan said carefully as he tried to not give away who one of those interfering gods will be.

"Nonsense, I stay by my word those gods who interfere in any way will receive a punishment." Zeus said in his _this-is-final _tone while the legacies exchanged glances with each other.

"Oh boy." they all said before turning back to the others.

"Please read Lord Zeus." Mich said sighing, this will be interesting by the third book, but maybe the thing with Zeus getting a punishment will brighten Lord Hades a bit, at least he hoped so, but he felt bad for his grandfather, Lady Athena, Lord Dionysus and Lord Apollo, his grandmother on the other hand will be surely yelled on by some relatives, mostly En's second grandfather.

**_The next afternoon, June 14, seven days before the solstice, our train rolled into Denver. We hadn't eaten since the night before in the dining car, somewhere in Kansas. We hadn't taken a shower since Half-Blood Hill, and I was sure that was obvious._**

Aphrodite and Sue wrinkled their noses at this, but the others, mostly the demigods keep silent they knew that that on a quest such luxuries would be hard to get, mostly with such a deadline.

**_"Let's try to contact Chiron," Annabeth said. "I want to tell him about your talk with the river spirit."_**

"Ah, I know what will soon come." Luke said with a dark look on is face as the legacies flinched which on the other hand confused the others except the two sons of wisdom and love who both looked nervous.

"What do you mean?" Katie asked.

"You will soon see." was the only reply she got from Luke.

**_"We can't use phones, right?"_**

"The Hecate and Hephaestus cabins are on that task." Mich and Misty said proudly while Hephaestus grinned at his grandson.

**_"I'm not talking about phones."_**

**_We wandered through downtown for about half an hour, though I wasn't sure what Annabeth was looking for. The air was dry and hot, which felt weird after the humidity of St. Louis. Everywhere we turned, the Rocky Mountains seemed to be staring at me, like a tidal wave about to crash into the city._**

"I wonder, do all of you kids make comparisons to the element of your godly parent?" Apollo asked curiously while the children exchanged confused glances.

"We are not sure dad to be honest." Lee replied, he may on occasions make comparisons to the sun and music, but he was not sure how often that is.

"The books staring from the Lost Hero one will have more points of view in them from other characters so maybe then you will get an explanation for we are also not sure, then if you are right have En and her dad rather frightening and gloomy thoughts." Nathan said while said girl glared at him.

"Can you tell us whose thoughts we will read?" Annabeth asked curiously.

"Uhm…I think yours, dad's, Mich's parents and I'm not sure about the others." Nathan finished while Annabeth looked embarrassed at the thought of her inner thoughts being read out loud to not only her friends and brother, but to the whole council, not that Jay didn't look mortified by the thought and the amused look on Octavian's face made matters only worse.

"Now could I please continue." this had been not a question, but Zeus rarely asked those.

**_Finally we found an empty do-it-yourself car wash._**

"Is this some kind of place for washing chariots?" Odysseus asked remembering the talk about that thing called a 'bus'.

"That is correct." Sally said to the king who smiled back at her.

**_We veered toward the stall farthest from the street, keeping our eyes open for patrol cars. We were three adolescents hanging out at a car wash without a car; any cop worth his doughnuts would figure we were up to no good._**

The Jackson siblings exchanged knowing smiles at that, Blackjack still loved those as did Peppermint.

**_"What exactly are we doing?" I asked, as Grover took out the spray gun._**

**_"It's seventy-five cents," he grumbled. "I've only got two quarters left. Annabeth?"_**

**_"Don't look at me," she said. "The dining car wiped me out."_**

**_I fished out my last bit of change and passed Grover a quarter, which left me two nickels and one drachma from Medusa's place._**

**_"Excellent," Grover said. "We could do it with a spray bottle, of course, but the connection isn't as good, and my arm gets tired of pumping."_**

"It seems that he still didn't try to use his powers over water intentionally." Poseidon said while his sons nodded.

"He will manage later on though at that time none of them come to the idea to make him try, he only did that in the next chapter." Sally said while scooting closer to her brother while Misty pushed Nathan that he should move closer to Henry to be safe while she did the same by Enysswe, something which didn't go unnoticed by some of the gods.

**_"What are you talking about?"_**

**_He fed in the quarters and set the knob to FINE MIST. "I-M'ing."_**

"He didn't see the video." come it from the legacies while Chiron groaned.

"I really should have shown him or explained better about these things." he muttered to himself, he will surely need to do some things different in one and a half years time.

**_"Instant messaging?"_**

"To be fair, that is actually a fair conclusion from the shortening and what you want to do." Silena said while Annabeth needed to nod, hopefully she didn't reprimand him.

**_"_****_Iris_****_-messaging," Annabeth corrected._**

"At least it was only a correcting." Annabeth whispered softly, she will need to make notes from all the wrong ways she acts around Percy to not repeat herself.

"She is a great help in the case of covering the messages and with her being connected to both the earth, sky and sea is she similarly to me a connector between the gods and mortals." Hermes explained to the demigods seeing how people tended even in their time to forget these things, he would have by now gone mad without Iris's help.

**_"The rainbow goddess Iris carries messages for the gods. If you know how to ask, and she's not too busy, she'll do the same for half-bloods."_**

"Well, her or Fleechy." Henry said in amusement.

"Huh?"

"You will know in the seventh book." He explained while the Romans looked thoughtful, they never thought about calling up on her, Reyna quickly made a new point on her list.

**_"You summon the goddess with a spray gun?"_**

"Put like that does really sound silly." Connor pointed out, but was ignored as Zeus continued reading.

**_Grover pointed the nozzle in the air and water hissed out in a thick white mist. "Unless you know an easier way to make a rainbow."_**

"He did, but you guys didn't ask hi to try." Triton said, he thought that it was obvious that Percy's powers were water based from the power spectres of their father.

**_Sure enough, late afternoon light filtered through the vapor and broke into colors._**

**_Annabeth held her palm out to me. "Drachma, please."_**

**_I handed it over._**

**_She raised the coin over her head. "O goddess, accept our offering."_**

**_She threw the drachma into the rainbow. It disappeared in a golden shimmer._**

**_"Half-Blood Hill," Annabeth requested._**

"You should have been more specific." Chiron said as Lupa nodded her head in agreement.

"We agree on that, now you get _him_." Luke growled as the others looked confused well except Malcolm and Mitchell who wanted to groan.

**_For a moment, nothing happened._**

**_Then I was looking through the mist at strawberry fields, and the Long Island Sound in the distance. _**

The Romans looked impressed, this was a really useful way to send a message.

**_We seemed to be on the porch of the Big House. Standing with his back to us at the railing was a sandy-haired guy in shorts and an orange tank top._**

Luke let out a soft growl while Annabeth frowned, just what was her son's problem with Luke? He was named after him was he not? Though there were the things he said during the reading, but she ignored those, Luke was a good guy and a great hero.

**_He was holding a bronze sword and seemed to be staring intently at something down in the meadow._**

Now the other legacies also growled which made the others frown.

**_"Luke!" I called._**

**_He turned, eyes wide. I could swear he was standing three feet in front of me through a screen of mist, except I could only see the part of him that appeared in the rainbow._**

**_"Percy!" His scarred face broke into a grin. "Is that Annabeth, too? Thank the gods! Are you guys okay?"_**

_'__Because you care.' _Luke thought sarcastically that guy had technically sent four cabins at each others throats and didn't care that there was a chance that they could get hurt.

**_"We're ... uh ... fine," Annabeth stammered. She was madly straightening her dirty T-shirt, trying to comb the loose hair out of her face._**

Some of the demigods snickered at this while Annabeth blushed, the legacies only had a mix of scowls or annoyed looks on their faces, they knew what words will be falling in a few minutes.

**_"We thought—Chiron—I mean—"_**

"Then you should have said his name." Lupa pointed out, her instincts were telling her that this had been a mistake, but she didn't know why except if there was something not right with Mercury's son.

**_"He's down at the cabins."_**

Somehow Chiron didn't like this sentence and some of the other demigods seemed to be thinking the same way.

**_Luke's smile faded. "We're having some issues with the campers._**

"The only time I need to personally settle a fight between campers is if the issue is because someone had insulted the others godly parent and those are serious fights." Chiron said which made the others frown.

"Four cabins were irked against each other by a clever little scheme just like dad got that lovely newspaper." Luke growled in annoyance while the gods frown deepened even more.

"Which four cabins?" Athena asked.

"Yours, Ares, Apollo and Demeter." the four named gods looked angry at this while their present children exchanged uncomfortable glance with each other, no wonder Chiron needed to step in.

"I see, father please continue." Athena said in a tight tone, when she find out who set her children up against the other out of vile intent.

**_Listen, is everything cool with you? Is Grover all right?"_**

**_"I'm right here," Grover called. He held the nozzle out to one side and stepped into Luke's line of vision. "What kind of issues?"_**

**_Just then a big Lincoln Continental pulled into the car wash with its stereo turned to maximum hip-hop. As the car slid into the next stall, the bass from the subwoofers vibrated so much, it shook the pavement._**

**_"Chiron had to—what's that noise?" Luke yelled._**

**_"I'll take care of it.'" Annabeth yelled back, looking very relieved to have an excuse to get out of sight._**

"Which at that time had been good, but now there is no chance for that." Nathan said while Annabeth frowned, why was it good that she was not there when Percy and Luke talked.

**_"Grover, come on!"_**

**_"What?" Grover said. "But—"_**

**_"Give Percy the nozzle and come on!" she ordered._**

**_Grover muttered something about girls being harder to understand than the Oracle at Delphi, then he handed me the spray gun and followed Annabeth._**

"Huh…after my knowledge, no matter her current state, my Oracle is also female." Apollo said in a perplexed tone, the others were also confused at this.

**_I readjusted the hose so I could keep the rainbow going and still see Luke._**

Aphrodite shivered and closed her mouth by the glares she got from Poseidon and the legacies.

**_"Chiron had to break up a fight,"_**

Said centaur flinched from the knowledge what type of fight he needed to stop while the parents of the four fighting cabins returned to their frowning.

**_Luke shouted to me over the music. "Things are pretty tense here, Percy. Word leaked out_**

"More like was spilled." Enysswe growled as Luke glared at the ground.

"Someone is really wishing to put everyone against the other." Amphitrite said, she didn't like this one bit.

"And it worked pretty well." Ace said, he was still angry how his grandfather got used by that bastard.

**_about the Zeus—Poseidon standoff. We're still not sure how—probably the same scumbag who summoned the hellhound._**

"He knows himself so well." Misty whispered bitterly to Lance who gave her a similar sardonic smile.

**_Now the campers are starting to take sides. It's shaping up like the Trojan War all over again._**

Cue groans from all those who have been in that.

"That damned apple." growled the female goddesses at which En gave them a sweet smile.

"Did you know that my grandaunt Eris did that to take revenge on Zeus for his attack on her sister and that she did not know that Helena was her niece?" she asked while the sons of Zeus, well mostly Perseus and Jay flinched while the goddesses who had competated against each other and the gods who had lost children in that war glared at Zeus.

"Really?" they asked as the King of Gods started to hurriedly read on, he was not scarred of them, just wanted to finish this chapter.

**_Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo are backing Poseidon, more or less. Athena is backing Zeus."_**

"So nice to know that three of my children get mentioned and two of them are backing my brother." Zeus mumbled to himself, but read on when he noticed that the glares were still going on in his direction. Really, they are acting as if the whole breaking out of the Trojan War had been his fault.

**_I shuddered to think that Clarisse's cabin would ever be on my dad's side for anything._**

Said girl huffed angrily while Ace held back a snicker.

**_In the next stall, I heard Annabeth and some guy arguing with each other, then the music's volume decreased drastically._**

"What did you do?" Travis asked curiously.

"This hasn't happened till now so how should I know?" Annabeth retorted then turned to the legacies.

"You never told us." Sally replied with a shrug.

**_"So what's your status?" Luke asked me. "Chiron will be sorry he missed you."_**

"Why do I have a strange feeling by the last sentence?" Lupa asked quietly so that only Chiron could hear her.

"I also have a strange feeling and I don't like it." he replied, he only hoped that he was mistaken.

"Do you also have the feeling that Chiron will not know about this call till they get back?" Malcolm whispered to Mitchell gravely.

"Yes I do, we are getting sadly even more clues here that our past assumptions are correct." this was the answer Malcolm dreaded because there was no way he could explain this to Annabeth in a soft way.

**_I told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. It felt so good to see him,_**

Cue glares at Aphrodite that she should not dare.

**_to feel like I was back at camp even for a few minutes,_**

The demigods and legacies smiled at this, they loved their camps.

**_that I didn't realize how long I had talked until the beeper went off on the spray machine, and I realized I only had one more minute before the water shut off._**

**_"I wish I could be there," Luke told me. _**

Luke gave a soft snort at this.

**_"We can't help much from here, I'm afraid, but listen ... it had to be Hades who took the master bolt._**

"Oh really, that is rich." Enysswe hissed out dangerously while Henry, Hades and Persephone had similar looks on their faces though the later two looked at a squirming Hermes and a pale Pan who was contemplating if sitting in Dionysus's lap would be less dangerous.

Outside meanwhile were the other gods busy holding back Hades's three children.

**_He was there at Olympus at the winter solstice. I was chaperoning a field trip and we saw him."_**

"Because it is the only day my husband is even allowed to set foot up here." Persephone growled as her eyes flashed at her brother who flinched from her gaze, he never wanted to tell her, but that look was pretty similar to Demeter's. "Is your son daring to imply my husband of thievery."

"Well, he is pretty accomplished at rape." Demeter said before Hermes could defend himself, but everyone turned to their side when they heard some shocked noised form the pale demigods, the mortals looked also uncomfortable.

"Sorry, you see as time went on some words lost their old meanings and gained new ones with said actual meaning getting lost. So while 'rape' in your time means kidnapping or abducting someone in our time it kind of means forced sexual assault, though by the current stand of things people still deny that such an assault can also be committed against males and not only females." Malcolm explained to the gods.

"What! Hades would never…" Persephone was outraged, sure he had kidnapped her against her will, but after arriving in the Underworld had he been so nice, gentle and understanding with her, they even slept for the first few days in separated parts of the castle and he never entered her rooms without her permission. Apollo looked also appealed at the idea of his uncle ever forcing someone into his bed, any god who knew the other would agree on that with him.

"Even I need to agree that he is one of the few gods who would not do that." Demeter said in a disgusted tone, at least was there this positive fact about their marriage.

"I agree with Demeter on that." Hera said as her sons sent a glare at their father who decided to stop this topic with his continued reading, these books were really not in his favour.

**_"But Chiron said the gods can't take each other's magic items directly."_**

Hades nodded while gently rubbing his wife's hand to calm her down though on the inside he felt stunned that Demeter had given him in her own way a word of approval regards his marriage with Persephone.

**_"That's true," Luke said, looking troubled. "Still ... Hades has the helm of darkness. How could anybody else sneak into the throne room and steal the master bolt?_**

"Why that…" Hades growled as Zeus continued, but he was sure that the next line would not help calm things down.

**_You'd have to be invisible."_**

Athena did a quick counting in her head and then bristled in anger.

"Is he implying my daughter?" she asked in a cold tone as Mitchell grabbed Malcolm's hand as the blonde looked ready to attack.

"Mom, I'm sure that this is not what Luke meant." Annabeth defended the other while the legacies shook their heads, it had in the original time taken a long time for her to accept how he had been lost and could not return anymore to them.

Athena only huffed, but a dreadful feeling started spreading in her stomach while Hermes gave Annabeth a thankful look.

**_We were both silent, until Luke seemed to realize what he'd said._**

**_"Oh, hey," he protested. "I didn't mean Annabeth. She and I have known each other forever. She would never ... I mean, she's like a little sister to me."_**

"Wow, great brother." Misty whispered sarcastically.

**_I wondered if Annabeth would like that description._**

Annabeth was not sure how she would feel, yes she admitted that she had a crush on Luke since some years now, but there was also a fact that she would end up married to anther guy so this kind of threw her out of the loop.

"In her own words she is fine with that." Luke and Sally replied in union.

**_In the stall next to us, the music stopped completely. A man screamed in terror, car doors slammed, and the Lincoln peeled out of the car wash._**

"We are so asking aunt Annabeth what she did." Lance and Ace said together while said aunt blushed by the looks her mother and brother were giving her.

**_"You'd better go see what that was," Luke said. "Listen, are you wearing the flying shoes? I'll feel better if I know they've done you some good."_**

And the frowns returned.

"Wait, why would a son of granduncle Poseidon use flying shoes, that is suicide." Pan pointed out in confusion.

"Your brother who is talking here seems to have forgotten that and thus Prissy gave the shoes to Grover." Clarisse took over explaining and with the usage of her favoured nickname for the son of Poseidon some could not help themselves by the legacies, they needed to snicker at this.

"I see." Pan said thoughtfully, that was still strange to him while Odysseus was also looking at the book with calculating eyes.

**_"Oh ... uh, yeah!" I tried not to sound like a guilty liar. "Yeah, they've come in handy."_**

"Technically he was not laying, they had come in handy it was just not him who used them." Beckendorf pointed out.

**_"Really?" He grinned. "They fit and everything?"_**

Malcolm felt Mitchell's hand tightening around his, he didn't even notice till now that they were still holding hands.

**_The water shut off. The mist started to evaporate._**

**_"Well, take care of yourself out there in Denver," Luke called, his voice getting fainter. "And tell Grover it'll be better this time! Nobody will get turned into a pine tree if he just—"_**

* * *

"That little good for nothing had just not dared to bring up something like that!" Iris yelled outraged.

"I agree that this was a cruel thing to say." Hecate nodded her head while she noted the dark looks some of the other gods had also on their faces, she should not even mention the satyrs.

"Why do I have the strange feeling that the boy is calling on my powers regards strife." Eris said in a thoughtful tone as she leaned against her elder sister, she had a few minutes ago the feeling as if people would have been talking about her, but it could be that she had only imagined that. A little side effect from babysitting Morpheus for Hypnos so often and playing games with her brother Phantasos when they both had been little.

* * *

**_But the mist was gone, and Luke's image faded to nothing. I was alone in a wet, empty car wash stall._**

**_Annabeth and Grover came around the corner, laughing, but stopped when they saw my face. Annabeth's smile faded. "What happened, Percy? What did Luke say?"_**

**_"Not much," I lied, my stomach feeling as empty as a Big Three cabin._**

"It was probably for the better that he didn't tell them." Psyche said gently from her spot beside Eros.

"I need to agree, those things would have not helped them, if they are to truly descend into the Underworld then they should not let their souls be already weightened down by doubts and guilt." he said while pulling Psyche closer, he hated thinking about the fact that his own mother had asked his wife when she had still been mortal to go down there to prove her feelings for him.

**_"Come on, let's find some dinner."_**

**_A few minutes later, we were sitting at a booth in a gleaming chrome diner._**

**_All around us, families were eating burgers and drinking malts and sodas._**

**_Finally the waitress came over. She raised her eyebrow skeptically. "Well?"_**

**_I said, "We, um, want to order dinner."_**

**_"You kids have money to pay for it?"_**

"They didn't exactly look convincing." Lance said.

**_Grover's lower lip quivered. I was afraid he would start bleating, or worse, start eating the linoleum._**

"Agreed, that would be worse." Jason said, he had no clue what linoleum was, but something told him that it would definitely freak a mortal out if someone started eating it.

**_Annabeth looked ready to pass out from hunger._**

**_I was trying to think up a sob story for the waitress when a rumble shook the whole building; a motorcycle the size of a baby elephant had pulled up to the curb._**

Clarisse tensed, she had heard about a bike that size from her mother a former army officer and firearm specialist, turning around she looked at her son who nodded. Great, she knew who was coming.

**_All conversation in the diner stopped. The motorcycle's headlight glared red. Its gas tank had flames painted on it, and a shotgun holster riveted to either side, complete with shotguns. The seat was leather—but leather that looked like ... well, Caucasian human skin._**

"Ace…" Lance started.

"Never asked, but something tells me that the answer would be _'yes'._" the legacy of Ares replied to his shuddering cousin while most of the demigods looked pale.

**_The guy on the bike would've made pro wrestlers run for Mama._**

Those who knew who it was needed to agree with that statement, though he had some kids in the wrestling branch Enysswe certainly preferred Mark Calaway who was better known as The Undertaker, he was a great guy and his half-brother could see through the mist and knew about their world. Strangely as they had found out had Hermes also a kid taking part in the Wrestling world though the relationship between Undertaker and Punk was still pretty tense and the legacies were told that during the marriage between Ace's parents were those two seated so that they had not only ten-ten guests between them, but also their fathers to stay put if they should decide to start something.

**_He was dressed in a red muscle shirt and black jeans and a black leather duster, with a hunting knife strapped to his thigh. He wore red wraparound shades, and he had the cruelest, most brutal face I'd ever seen— handsome, I guess, but wicked—with an oily black crew cut and cheeks that were scarred from many, many fights. The weird thing was, I felt like I'd seen his face somewhere before._**

Slowly the gods gazes were travelling over to Ares who had his eyebrow raised before his eyes widened.

"You have to be kidding me." he said in shock.

"I agree with him." come it form his siblings.

"Beside that, I fear now I know what I will be constantly fixing in a few thousand years." Hephaestus mumbled to himself as he remembered the description about his brother's new type of chariot.

**_As he walked into the diner, a hot, dry wind blew through the place. All the people rose, as if they were hypnotized, but the biker waved his hand dismissively and they all sat down again._**

"What would have happened if Lord Mars would not have done that?" Dakota asked curiously.

"They would have gone battling, all war gods have this nature to them if they appear in front of a large group of mortals, demigods can resist it a small bit better." Reyna answered, her mother was also a war goddess so she knew about these things.

"Then good that he stopped them." Jay said.

**_Everybody went back to their conversations. The waitress blinked, as if somebody had just pressed the rewind button on her brain. She asked us again, "You kids have money to pay for it?"_**

**_The biker said, "It's on me." _**

There was suddenly a loud thud as Ares throne toppled backwards when Athena and Apollo threw themselves at the startled god while outside Hecate conjured up a few fans over the fainted sons of the war god.

"What the fuck has gotten into you two!" the war god yelled outraged not even guessing that outside all of his children were held back from rushing inside to make sure that he was fine, well beside the twins, they were still out cold.

"Shut up, Apollo check if there are some lasting side effect form all of his crashes." Athena demanded while pinning her brother to the ground partly with Apollo's help.

"You know that this will be in millennia!" Ares tried getting out from their grasp as the demigods stared at the scene perplexed.

"Athena, Apollo you heard him this will happen far in the future and we don't know why Ares ignores the law of not interfering directly." Hera suddenly spoke up in a gentle tone as she walked over to the three gods and placed both of her hands on the shoulder of her two step children who looked up at her in shock. Hephaestus seemed to be right that Hera seemed to try getting better with them so they stood up and went back to their thrones, still a bit mystified, while Ares looked at his mother in shock, he will really need to talk with his mother after this book was over.

**_He slid into our booth, which was way too small for him, and crowded Annabeth against the window._**

Athena gave her brother a sharp kick to the leg while Annabeth didn't look pleased about the seating arrangements.

**_He looked up at the waitress, who was gaping at him, and said, "Are you still here?"_**

"At least your manners will be improving towards people you are not interested in." Aphrodite told her boyfriend while some of the demigods looked nervous how he acted in this time if this was an improvement.

"Unfortunately not in the case of his father." Hera whispered to Demeter who nodded her head in agreement with her sister.

**_He pointed at her, and she stiffened. She turned as if she'd been spun around, then marched back toward the kitchen._**

**_The biker looked at me. I couldn't see his eyes behind the red shades, but bad feelings started boiling in my stomach. Anger, resentment, bitterness._**

"Yes, that is my aura and the feelings which usually get transferred to those in my presence and are not gods, in that case our auras block out that of the other to the extent we wish." Ares said with a shrug of his shoulders, he had been never good at controlling his aura which was understandable regards what he represents and the only ground the demigods and the mortals were not feeling it was because the aura of the other gods, mostly his aunt Hestia's neutralized it.

**_I wanted to hit a wall. I wanted to pick a fight with somebody. Who did this guy think he was?_**

Ares has a small grin on his lips, he always wanted to know what people felt when affected by his power and his little cousin was giving him nice infos.

**_He gave me a wicked grin. "So you're old Seaweed's kid, huh?"_**

Poseidon scowled at his nephew as Athena looked amused.

"At least is this nickname close to your son's." Amphitrite told her husband who rolled his eyes at her.

**_I should've been surprised, or scared, but instead I felt like I was looking at my stepdad, Gabe._**

"Uhuh…so this is who he is the most angry at that time." Apollo said before turning to the demigods to explain it to them. "This is another aspect of the godly aura like when you look at Aphrodite you see her similar to the one you actually like or the type of person you would not mind getting together with and so on." as he finished Aphrodite scowled at his then suddenly the demigods did their best to not look at her, their faces flushed and as she guessed the same went for Nathan, Lance, Ace and surprisingly also Luke.

**_I wanted to rip this guy's head off. "What's it to you?"_**

Poseidon and his sons bit back groans while the demigods shook their heads, that guy really had it not easy.

**_Annabeth's eyes flashed me a warning. "Percy, this is—"_**

**_The biker raised his hand._**

**_"S'okay," he said. "I don't mind a little attitude. Long as you remember who's the boss. You know who I am, little cousin?"_**

"You know, this is kind of amusing." Henry suddenly spoke up which made everyone turn into his direction.

"What do you mean?" Castor asked the other.

"Most of the time uncle Percy is meeting a god or some of their not demigod children a good deal of them point out their relationship with him which is most of the time with the term '_cousin_'." Henry explained while the others blinked at him, the demigods from the future were the most confused because they could not remember something like this happening that it is a god who points out to the demigod how they are related.

"Who were the other gods who did that?" Jay asked.

"You will soon read about it in the other books." Henry replied before looking at Zeus.

**_Then it struck me why this guy looked familiar. He had the same vicious sneer as some of the kids at Camp Half-Blood, the ones from cabin five._**

Clarisse looked proud at the fact that she had something in common with her father when Zeus raised an eyebrow as he spotted the next line, that was a first he had heard a god introduced like that when they come face to face with them.

**_"You're Clarisse's dad," I said._****_"Ares, god of war."_**

"Yep, this is again a first." Hermes said as the demigods face palmed.

"Gods don't get introduced with the name of their demigod child first." Annabeth groaned, her future husband was truly a Seaweed Brain.

"Don't dare hurt him Ares." Poseidon warned.

"Don't worry grandfather, in our time is Lord Ares in a way fond of dad along the lines of favourite opponent to fight against." Luke explained at which Poseidon groaned while Orpheus sighed in despair while Perseus flinched as Theseus his them both by accident as he whirled around to stare at his nephew.

"Opponent?" he squeaked out.

"Mom, he looks just as pale as Lord Hades." Perses told his mother who was looking worriedly at her husband's cousin.

"He sure is." Luke answered as his grandfather shook his head, Percy seemed to not only manage to infuriate divine beings and monsters, but he also had strange relationships with his immortal relatives. It was really hard to fully understand that boy or to form a full picture about him.

**_Ares grinned and took off his shades._**

"You are not insulted?" Athena asked in shock while Ares shrugged.

"I don't know what I think in the future, but that punk sounds interesting so I can see why I like to fight him in the future even though I will need to hold back with him being a demigod and all." Ares said while the legacies exchanged smirks with each other, hopefully will the time they had invested for months bear fruit.

**_Where his eyes should've been, there was only fire, empty sockets glowing with miniature nuclear explosions. "That's right, punk. I heard you broke Clarisse's spear."_**

**_"She was asking for it."_**

Clarisse huffed in annoyance while making a mental note to not have that guy near water, though she agreed with her father, he would make a fun opponent.

**_"Probably. That's cool. I don't fight my kids' fights, you know? What I'm here for—I heard you were in town. I got a little proposition for you."_**

"It would be an insult to their pride if I interfered and it turns out that they could have won." Ares said when Clarisse also spoke up.

"Beside that, if we lose a fight this means simply that we used the wrong weapon, battle plan or the opponent was strong and if they are a demigod then we can fight them again and again till we are stronger then them." she explained while her father nodded in approval, it seemed that his daughter had perfectly got his way of teaching his kids, most of his sons had on occasions trouble grasping this easy little fact. He may not be the god of strategicall battle, that was Athena, but he had also battle plans, Sparta was a good proof regards this.

"I never knew that." Athena said in a stunned tone.

"Well, you are in most cases when we fight more busy with outwitting me then to pay attention to what my children and followers do." Ares told her and Athena needed to agree with him, it slowly seemed that this reading will not only make them face family problems and make them talk about those, but also kind of give them insight into the others, she will need to grab Enyo after the books are over and have a three way talk with her sister and Ares.

When it was silent again Zeus continued reading the book.

**_The waitress came back with heaping trays of food—cheeseburgers, fries, onion rings, and chocolate shakes._**

Ares motioned to his father that he should continue when he noticed everyone staring at him strangely again.

**_Ares handed her a few gold drachmas._**

**_She looked nervously at the coins. "But, these aren't..."_**

**_Ares pulled out his huge knife and started cleaning his fingernails. "Problem, sweetheart?"_**

"What is wrong with drachmas?" Jason asked curiously, gold was a favoured paying method.

"Well you see the currency is different and most people rarely see gold in anything other then jewellery, leave alone meet people who pay with them." Pollux explained to those from the antique.

**_The waitress swallowed, then left with the gold._**

**_"You can't do that," I told Ares. "You can't just threaten people with a knife."_**

**"****He has guts." Ares stated as the father of said boy massaged his forehead. **

**_Ares laughed._**

"Your dad had always a strange impact on the godly side of his family." Misty whispered to Sally who nodded, in the past years it become somewhat clear that no matter how some of the gods seem to be annoyed by her dad and would like to blast him to pieces a part of them still liked him. Hermes had kind of secretly taped those confessions on a meeting and shown it to her unbelieving dad.

**_"Are you kidding? I love this country. Best place since Sparta._**

"That is already a positive aspect for me." Ares said while some of his relatives wanted to groan at this knowledge so Zeus continued before an argument could break out.

**_Don't you carry a weapon, punk? You should. Dangerous world out there. Which brings me to my proposition. I need you to do me a favour."_**

The past heroes tried to not flinch, it never ended easily for them if a god asks for a favour, mostly not if it is the war god asking you for this.

**_"What favour could I do for a god?"_**

"It is not unusual." Demeter stated while the past heroes nodded again, still feeling uneasy because of their past memories.

**_"Something a god doesn't have time to do himself. It's nothing much. I left my shield at an abandoned water park here in town. I was going on a little ... date with my girl friend._**

Hera did her best to not glare at Aphrodite and anstead kicked the source of her son's problems to keep his hands away from someone who is already married. Zeus flinched from the new kick, he didn't even know what Hera's problem was now, she was acting strangely since the reading started while Aphrodite looked apologetically at both her husband and grandson.

**_We were interrupted._**

"Seems you got me again." Ares whispered to his brother who looked amused, Ares had some amusing reactions when falling into his traps.

**_I left my shield behind. I want you to fetch it for me."_**

**_"Why don't you go back and get it yourself?"_**

**_The fire in his eye sockets glowed a little hotter._**

**_"Why don't I turn you into a prairie dog and run you over with my Harley? Because I don't feel like it._**

"Well, that would kind of give Percy the chance to still attack and defend himself." Misty said, she was an expert in these cases.

"In other words, he left him go with a warning like D did when they had meet." Apollo noted stunned, the Fates really must like this boy in some sense.

"I would still feel better if even those threats would be left out, but that is too much to ask for." Poseidon said while waiting for his younger brother to continue.

"I swear he is the most unlucky and still the luckiest demigod." Jay said to his fellow Romans so that some of the Greeks could also hear him, knowing that they would also agree with him.

**_A god is giving you an opportunity to prove yourself, Percy Jackson. Will you prove yourself a coward?" He leaned forward. "Or maybe you only fight when there's a river to dive into, so your daddy can protect you."_**

"Knowing this family's temper and hearing about the effects of Ares's aura I think this perfectly got him to accept the request." Persephone said while looking over at her family if someone should dare to deny that they have a temper to their natures.

No one spoke up.

**_I wanted to punch this guy, but somehow, I knew he was waiting for that._**

"Damn, he is attempting to fight it." Ares grumbled, not that he would ever admit it that he found those who could get out of his power more interesting then those who blindly followed it till he decides that he is bored or they on their way to his uncle.

"Which is good." Theseus mumbled to himself, hoping that Percy will come out with only little harm of this.

**_Ares's power was causing my anger. He'd love it if I attacked. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction._**

"Good son, fight against the aura." Poseidon said, this was good that Percy was not giving into Ares's powers, not many heroes managed that he had seen enough such examples.

**_"We're not interested," I said. "We've already got a quest."_**

**_Ares's fiery eyes made me see things I didn't want to see—_**

"Wow, you got even more patient in the future." Hermes said in a stunned tone.

"That is a nice surprise." Aphrodite whispered to Ares who was not sure if this was a compliment or seeing Athena's nod an insult.

**_blood and smoke and corpses on the battlefield._**

"My grandaunts the Keres are pretty busy on such days." En said thoughtfully while Luke and Sally tried not to flinch at the memory how their dad got bitten by one of them, at least was uncle Will making pretty good progress with making a fast working antidote for that poison, the perks to be married to the Prince of the Underworld and living down there with him.

**_"I know all about your quest, punk. When that _****_item _****_was first stolen, Zeus sent his best out looking for it: Apollo, Athena, Artemis, and me, naturally._**

"In other words all of my siblings who are part of the council and are not busy making sometimes pointless deliveries…" Hermes started.

"…or punished to be babysitters." Dionysus finished as both him and Hermes looked at their father pointedly who hurried on to read to avoid the answer.

**_If I couldn't sniff out a weapon that powerful ..."_**

"Ares, you are not a dog, but I need to agree that you had always the ability to find weapons even as a baby" Hera said before looking amused as she added "much to your father's misfortune." she finished with a giggle while Zeus blushed.

"Oh, I remember you got your hands once on the Master Bolt and activated it when your father had gotten out of the shower and given him a nice shock which blasted him through the wall where he lost his towel in the process." Demeter said remembering the incident while Zeus blushed as his brothers broke out laughing, Ares only looked slightly embarrassed.

"That certainly should have teached him to not let that Bolt out of sight in a place where it can be even found by a baby." En whispered to Henry while Nathan and Ace tried to hold in their laughter.

"Nice job bro." Apollo said laughing while his father started to read again more louder to drone them out.

**_He licked his lips, as if the very thought of the master bolt made him hungry._**

"He certainly found it funny what had happened to his father." Hera giggled.

**_"Well ... if I couldn't find it, you got no hope._**

The legacies exchanged dark looks, he did find it, but Kronos's manipulation and Luke's knowledge about manipulation was it easy to sway him and to manipulate his mind and actions.

**_Nevertheless, I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt. Your dad and I go way back. _**

"I was his babysitter whenever Hera was gone and the Drama Queen here had no clue how to deal with a screaming child." Poseidon said smirking.

"So, this was why I smelled saltwater in the crib whenever I left the two of you alone for more then two hours." Hera said musing while Ares blushed again as the demigods stared at the gods in shock.

This was also why Zeus decided to hurry on reading again.

**_After all, I'm the one who told him my suspicions about old Corpse Breath."_**

Ares flinched from the looks he was getting form the Underworld pair and their grandchildren, beside that was Apollo also glaring at him? At the same time outside needed three siblings to be held back again.

**_"You told him Hades stole the bolt?"_**

**_"Sure. Framing somebody to start a war. Oldest trick in the book. I recognized it immediately._**

"Why do I have the unwelcome feeling that this has a lot more meaning to it then we are currently seeing." Athena said while the legacies exchanged dark looks with each other.

**_In a way, you got me to thank for your little quest."_**

**_"Thanks," I grumbled._**

**_"Hey, I'm a generous guy. Just do my little job, and I'll help you on your way. I'll arrange a ride west for you and your friends."_**

"Ares, stop interfering personally." Zeus warned.

"And you continue to read." Hera snapped at her husband while her son looked at her still surprised by the way she was now behaving.

**_"We're doing fine on our own."_**

**_"Yeah, right. No money. No wheels. No clue what you're up against. Help me out, and maybe I'll tell you something you need to know. Something about your mom."_**

"Ugh…that will get his attention." Malcolm groaned.

"Anyone with enough knowledge about war knows how to manipulate their opponents after finding out their weak points, which in Percy's case is his mother." Reyna said as the others groaned, if Percy managed to fight the war aura he still would not be able to say no when his mother gets mentioned.

**_"My mom?"_**

**_He grinned. "That got your attention. The water park is a mile west on Delancy. You can't miss it. Look for the Tunnel of Love ride."_**

"What!" some yelled as Annabeth flushed crimson as she hoped that she would leave that ride out.

**_"What interrupted your date?" I asked. "Something scare you off?"_**

Ares glanced at his brother who looked pleased, he was pretty good with anything mechanical.

**_Ares bared his teeth, but I'd seen his threatening look before on Clarisse._**

Said girl felt pleased again, it was not easy being the head of her cabin and to keep that so with most of your brothers trying to take control so hearing even more things that she had in common with her dad was good.

**_There was something false about it, almost like he was nervous._**

"He has some pretty good traps." Ares said while pointing at this brother.

"I try to make them challenging and on occasions destructive enough so that I can give Ares in check, it may be that for that some harsh comments fall, but that is part of the fun." Hephaestus said nonchalantly, he was used to some hard insults from his brother because of those type of traps, not that he didn't have some similarly harsh names for Ares to.

"It is certainly strange to hear about our fathers relationship." Beckendorf whispered to Clarisse.

"It definitely is." she replied back.

**_"You're lucky you met me, punk, and not one of the other Olympians. They're not as forgiving of rudeness as I am._**

"Till now he managed to annoy the whole council on different levels, but everyone left it by threats." En said as Poseidon paled. "Fifth book and it was more to get your attention due to an important happening." she explained.

**_I'll meet you back here when you're done. Don't disappoint me."_**

The past heroes groaned, they hated that sentence.

**_After that I must have fainted, or fallen into a trance, because when I opened my eyes again, Ares was gone._**

"Gods can depart in different ways." Sally said, the Egyptians had also a different way.

**_I might've thought the conversation had been a dream, but Annabeth and Grover's expressions told me otherwise._**

**_"Not good," Grover said. "Ares sought you out, Percy. This is not good."_**

"One gets used to it." replied the Jackson siblings while Annabeth bit back a groan.

**_I stared out the window. The motorcycle had disappeared._**

**_Did Ares really know something about my mom, or was he just playing with me? _**

"The later." come it from everyone in and outside of the palace.

**_Now that he was gone, all the anger had drained out of me. I realized Ares must love to mess with people's emotions. That was his power—cranking up the passions so badly, they clouded your ability to think._**

"Well noted." Athena said while glancing over at Poseidon, she could not decide if the boy got his knack for noticing such little things from hi mother who proved to be a rather intelligent woman or was it possible that it was from his father whom they say he greatly resembles.

**_"It's probably some kind of trick," I said. "Forget Ares. Let's just go."_**

**_"We can't," Annabeth said. "Look, I hate Ares as much as anybody, but you don't ignore the gods unless you want serious bad fortune. He wasn't kidding about turning you into a rodent."_**

"Dad has an aversion towards hamsters." Sally said before waving her hand to Zeus that he should continue while the others still looked confused.

**_I looked down at my cheeseburger, which suddenly didn't seem so appetizing. "Why does he need us?"_**

**_"Maybe it's a problem that requires brains," Annabeth said. "Ares has strength. That's all he has._**

"Your mother's daughter." Ares growled to the squirming girl, but didn't do anything more regards the matter, he was more for violence and she was more logic.

**_Even strength has to bow to wisdom sometimes."_**

"War has more then one aspect to it." Ares replied shrugging.

**_"But this water park ... he acted almost scared. What would make a war god run away like that?"_**

"I have some tricky traps." Hephaestus stated while both Ares and Aphrodite nodded shuddering as Athena frowned something told her that she would not like what is to come.

**_Annabeth and Grover glanced nervously at each other._**

It seemed that her daughter would share her bad feelings.

**_Annabeth said, "I'm afraid we'll have to find out."_**

**_The sun was sinking behind the mountains by the time we found the water park. Judging from the sign, it once had been called WATERLAND, but now some of the letters were smashed out, so it read WAT R A D._**

"I think this sounds better." Connor grinned in amusement with his brothers.

**_The main gate was padlocked and topped with barbed wire. Inside, huge dry waterslides and tubes and pipes curled everywhere, leading to empty pools. Old tickets and advertisements fluttered around the asphalt. With night coming on, the place looked sad and creepy._**

"I agree with Percy." Silena said, she had been with her dad at some water parks and she had liked it, but this sounded nothing like those she had been at.

**_"If Ares brings his girlfriend here for a date," I said, staring up at the barbed wire, "I'd hate to see what she looks like."_**

"Excuse me?" Aphrodite asked offended while her children were frowning.

"To his defence, he didn't remember the myths regards you two at that moment." Sally called in which made all four relax.

"Then it is fine, I can live with that." Aphrodite said, something told her that she will have much fun with the love life of that young man from what she had heard about him.

**_"Percy," Annabeth warned. "Be more respectful."_**

**_"Why? I thought you hated Ares."_**

**_"He's still a god. And his girlfriend is very temperamental."_**

"I am not," Aphrodite said, but then she caught the looks from both her husband and boyfriend she sighed. "Fine, I may be somewhat temperamental." she admitted finally.

**_"You don't want to insult her looks," Grover added._**

**_"Who is she? Echidna?"_**

"WHAT! I would never date that thing!" Ares yelled in horror. "I would sooner be suicidal and ask Artemis out for a date then to go anywhere with her!" he ignored the look on Artemis's face or the glare he got from Apollo and Orion who on the other had got glared on by Apollo's children and grandson.

"Wow, he is lucky that he didn't get cursed right there." Chris said in shock, he had seen his siblings becoming victims to the Aphrodite cabin's wrath due to a prank so he didn't wish to find out how it looks if their mother is in full rage.

**_"No, Aphrodite," Grover said, a little dreamily. "Goddess of love."_**

Aphordite giggled, mostly after she noticed Pan nodding his head vehemently in agreement with the young satyr.

**_"I thought she was married to somebody," I said. "Hephaestus."_**

Mitch looked at his squirming aunts and uncles and then to his grandparents who shifted in their thrones before they looked at their children.

"Things are not without complications in godly marriages and to break that bond there needs to be a deep ground for that and you also need the allowance of the at that time ruling god or an older powerful god." Aphrodite tried to explain.

"Beside that, I'm not exactly good with living things and love and war are closely bound just like love and death tend to be. I may be annoyed on occasions with these two, but I never thought about separating seeing how love is also like fire as the term '_scorching love_' indicates and thus those two do what they want on their dates and I set traps to annoy them. I know that this might not sound right to most, but we are already used to this and on the bright side till now I had never the feeling as if Ares would try to get me out of the picture." Hephaestus continued for his wife.

"And that will not come, as said getting away or destroying those traps is also a type of battle and I like those." Ares added in.

"Do you children understand it now, I don't do this out of malice I…"

"It is fine mom, you are following your nature which is not easy to control." Silena said with a soft smile, she was slowly starting to understand better and it seemed that the others did the same.

"Also, if you think that they have a hard time controlling their nature, our allies have it sometimes worse." Mich pointed out.

"Who are they actually?" Annabeth asked.

"The Egyptians you will meet them in a few years and as you know their gods can take up a hybrid form between animal and human thus they kind of are even if in fully human form plagued by the instincts of their animal side." Mich explained to the gapping groups.

"The Egyptian gods are also in America?" Frederic found himself asking.

"Of course, the are just as strongly bound to the Flame of Western Civilization like the Greeks, the Twenty-First Nome is in Brooklyn, mum was the one who designed their camp in Memphis after they made the decision to have also demigod children who can help the magicians who follow them." Sally finished and then held up her hand. "As said you will met them in a few years, but first you should busy yourselves with your own future." she finished in a similar tone like her mother when she saw a conversation ended.

**_"What's your point?" he asked._**

**_"Oh." I suddenly felt the need to change the subject. "So how do we get in?"_**

**_"Maia!" _****_Grover's shoes sprouted wings._**

**_He flew over the fence, did an unintended somersault in midair, then stumbled to a landing on the opposite side. He dusted off his jeans, as if he'd planned the whole thing. "You guys coming?"_**

**_Annabeth and I had to climb the old-fashioned way, holding down the barbed wire for each other as we crawled over the top._**

"Such a gentleman." Gwen said smiling though she was partly still musing about what her mother and Lord Vulcan had talked about as well as Lord Mars's words.

**_The shadows grew long as we walked through the park, checking out the attractions. There was Ankle Biter Island, Head Over Wedgie, and Dude, Where's My Swimsuit?_**

"If those were the ride names, then no wonder that it went bankrupt." Mitchell noted with a strange look on his face, this was actually the same time he noticed his mother's gaze on him or better a part of him. Following her gaze he noticed that his hand was still entwirled with Malcolm's, flushing he pulled it immediately away much to the blonde's confusion who also forgot that they were still holding hands, then he also noticed Aphrodite looking at them and he also flushed as she gave them a sly smile.

"What are you grinning at?" Athena asked as she leaned over Ares.

"Nothing much Thena." Aphrodite replied happily while watching how the other demigods gave the still blushing pair curious looks.

**_No monsters came to get us. Nothing made the slightest noise._**

**_We found a souvenir shop that had been left open. Merchandise still lined the shelves: snow globes, pencils, postcards, and racks of—_**

**_"Clothes," Annabeth said. "Fresh clothes."_**

**_"Yeah," I said. "But you can't just—"_**

**_"Watch me."_**

"Finally!" the Stolls yelled as Chris and Trickster grinned at the gaping girl.

"Good girl." Hermes stated before covering from the look Athena was sending him.

**_She snatched an entire row of stuff of the racks and disappeared into the changing room._**

The Hermes kids grinned even wider.

**_A few minutes later she came out in Waterland flower-print shorts, a big red Waterland T-shirt, and commemorative Waterland surf shoes. A Waterland backpack was slung over her shoulder, obviously stuffed with more goodies._**

**_"What the heck." Grover shrugged. _**

There were some snickers at the reaction.

"Poor dad." Luke said grinning.

**_Soon, all three of us were decked out like walking advertisements for the defunct theme park._**

Cue more snickers.

**_We continued searching for the Tunnel of Love._**

**_I got the feeling that the whole park was holding its breath. "So Ares and Aphrodite," I said, to keep my mind off the growing dark, "they have a thing going?"_**

"Yes." the gods said in union.

**_"That's old gossip, Percy," Annabeth told me. "Three-thousand-year-old gossip."_**

**_"What about Aphrodite's husband?"_**

"I already said my reasons." Hephaestus said shrugging while Zeus looked annoyed at the next lines, great he will fail to get that idiotic lie removed form the mortals tales about them.

**_"Well, you know," she said. "Hephaestus. The black smith. He was crippled when he was a baby, thrown off Mount Olympus by Zeus._**

"That was in truth me, I don't even know when the mortals started seeing Zeus as the one who did it and he had already been born the way he looks." Hera said sadly as the demigod looked at her wide eyed.

"It is fine mother, we have talked about it and you told me the ground for what you have done." Hephaestus said in a gentle tone.

"You have talked about it?" Zeus asked in shock.

"Yes father, I have now a better understanding for the ground why I had been born like this and what had lead my mother to become depressed enough to throw her own child form Olymphus." the god told his father coldly.

"There are a good deal of myths which get disgustingly changed by different philosophers over the years." Enysswe replied in an annoyed tone.

"Like?" Persephone asked.

"That both my uncle Zagreus and aunt Melinoe are actually Zeus children who took up grandfathers form to trick you." she said to her outraged looking grandmother.

"Zeus would beg to move in with father if he would ever dare." Hades growled coldly as his wife leaned against him and even Demeter seemed to agree with that.

"It is sometimes not easy to guess which myth is true and which not." Sally said while gesturing to Zeus who was more willing again to read before he can be pulled down even more though he was curious about what Hera had told their son, she never told him why he was born so deformed, only threw a vase at his head before going to put the children to bed.

**_So he isn't exactly handsome._**

"I'm sorry." Annabeth said hurriedly.

"Is fine." Hephaestus reassured her.

**_Clever with his hands, and all, but Aphrodite isn't into brains and talent, you know?"_**

"Sorry also for this."

"Sweetie, this will be in the future so no need to apologize." Aphrodite told her and then kicked Ares that he should nod.

**_"She likes bikers."_**

**_"Whatever."_**

**_"Hephaestus knows?"_**

"Yes." the gods replied again, some with amusement and the pair with blushes on their faces.

**_"Oh sure," Annabeth said. "He caught them together once. I mean, literally caught them, in a golden net,_**

The caught pair groaned at the memory, that had been the worst experience.

**_and invited all the gods to come and laugh at them._**

Said invited gods grinned while the demigods looked slightly uncomfortable.

**_Hephaestus is always trying to embarrass them. That's why they meet in out-of-the-way places, like ..."_**

"And he still finds us." Ares grumbled.

**_She stopped, looking straight ahead. "Like that."_**

**_In front of us was an empty pool that would've been awesome for skateboarding. It was at least fifty yards across and shaped like a bowl._**

**_Around the rim, a dozen bronze statues of Cupid stood guard with wings spread and bows ready to fire. _**

"Huh, that sounds familiar." Aphrodite said in a thoughtful tone.

"He is the Roman form of your son Eros." Reyna explained to the goddess who was suddenly beaming at the information.

**_On the opposite side from us, a tunnel opened up, probably where the water flowed into when the pool was full. The sign above it read, THRILL RIDE O' LOVE: THIS IS NOT YOUR PARENTS' TUNNEL OF LOVE!_**

"Ugh…they certainly failed with that name." Michael said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

**_Grover crept toward the edge. "Guys, look."_**

**_Marooned at the bottom of the pool was a pink-and-white two-seater boat with a canopy over the top and little hearts painted all over it. In the left seat, glinting in the fading light, was Ares's shield, a polished circle of bronze._**

"This sounds too easy." Octavian said worriedly while giving his uncle an apologetic smile for making him again take care about a panicked Theseus.

**_"This is too easy," I said._**

"Percy seems to agree with you." Dakota told the blonde augur.

**_"So we just walk down there and get it?"_**

**_Annabeth ran her fingers along the base of the nearest Cupid statue._**

**_"There's a Greek letter carved here," she said. "Eta. I wonder ..."_**

Hephaestus looked thoughtful, that was the starting letter of his name so could this mean…

**_"Grover," I said, "you smell any monsters?"_**

**_He sniffed the wind. "Nothing."_**

**_"Nothing—like, in-the-Arch-and-you-didn't-smell-Echidna nothing, or really nothing?"_**

"Please not." Theseus whined.

**_Grover looked hurt. "I told you, that was underground."_**

"You still need to be careful." Pan said sighing, their noses were a satyr's greatest weapon for survival.

**_"Okay, I'm sorry." I took a deep breath. "I'm going down there."_**

**_"I'll go with you." Grover_****_didn't sound too enthusiastic, but I got the feeling he was trying to make up for what had happened in St. Louis._**

"On the love ride with a satyr." Travis said snickering before Katie hit him over the head.

**_"No," I told him. "I want you to stay up top with the flying shoes. You're the Red Baron, a flying ace, remember? I'll be counting on you for backup, in case something goes wrong."_**

The legacies snorted at this, they had seen the video which will be soon recorded in this book.

**_Grover puffed up his chest a little. "Sure. But what could go wrong?"_**

Cue more snorts.

"Zeus continue." Poseidon told his brother.

**_"I don't know. Just a feeling. Annabeth, come with me—"_**

The demigods broke out laughing at this while Annabeth flushed crimson, Athena and Frederic on the other had frowned a bit.

**_"Are you kidding?" She looked at me as if I'd just dropped from the moon. Her cheeks were bright red._**

**_"What's the problem now?" I demanded._**

And the laughter only increased and now even the gods looked amused, well outside the laughing had already broken out since Percy asked the girl to go with him.

**_"Me, go with you to the ... the 'Thrill Ride of Love'? How embarrassing is that? What if somebody saw me?"_**

"Who would see you?" Clarisse asked with a raised eyebrow, even she saw the ridiculousness of this comment.

Annabeth didn't answer, her blush only worsened and could only hope that Zeus would read soon, luckily he did.

**_"Who's going to see you?" But my face was burning now, too. Leave it to a girl to make everything complicated._**

"Only you make it seem complicated." said all the females smirking at the pouting males.

"Some of you look even really adorable when frustrated, this is the other ground." Aphrodite said happily which made the guys blush.

**_"Fine," I told her. "I'll do it myself." But when I started down the side of the pool, she followed me, muttering about how boys always messed things up._**

Now it were the boys who smirked while the girls rolled their eyes at them.

**_We reached the boat. The shield was propped on one seat, and next to it was a lady's silk scarf._**

Aphrodite looked thoughtful, that sounded like one of hers.

**_I tried to imagine Ares and Aphrodite here, a couple of gods meeting in a junked-out amusement-park ride._**

"It definitely doesn't sound all too romantic." Silena said.

"As said, he is good in finding us." Ares said, there are only so much places one would find romantic and not be found.

**_Why? Then I noticed something I hadn't seen from up top: mirrors all the way around the rim of the pool, facing this spot. We could see ourselves no matter which direction we looked. That must be it. While Ares and Aphrodite were smooching with each other they could look at their favorite people: themselves._**

Said pair blushed again while Aphrodite's children needed to admit that mirrors were a nice addition to bedrooms.

"My parents are not exactly narcistic thought they still have a large mirror in their room." En whispered to Henry who nodded in agreement.

**_I picked up the scarf. It shimmered pink, and the perfume was indescribable—rose, or mountain laurel._**

"Yes, that is one of mine." Aphrodite said recogrinaising it now.

**_Something good. I smiled, a little dreamy, and was about to rub the scarf against my cheek when Annabeth ripped it out of my hand and stuffed it in her pocket. "Oh, no you don't. Stay away from that love magic."_**

Annabeth flushed deep crimson at this when the others started snickering again.

"So cute, you are already possessive about him." Silena said beaming to the blushing girl.

**_"What?"_**

**_"Just get the shield, Seaweed Brain, and let's get out of here."_**

**_The moment I touched the shield, I knew we were in trouble. _**

And the snickers become groans.

**_My hand broke through something that had been connecting it to the dashboard._**

"I'm sorry for whatever my trap will do." Hephaestus said.

"It is fine, our parents say that it was mostly a scare, but they are fine with what had happened." Sally told the god who nodded his head and the others relaxed slightly at this.

**_A cobweb,_**

Again shudder from Athena and her children though the former did not know that her deed she will soon commit after seeing the result of her rivals work will greatly torment her children.

**_I thought, but then I looked at a strand of it on my palm and saw it was some kind of metal filament, so fine it was almost invisible. A trip wire._**

Everyone leaned further forward in their seats to hear what the trap was.

**_"Wait," Annabeth said._**

**_"Too late."_**

**_"There's another Greek letter on the side of the boat, another Eta. This is a trap."_**

**_Noise erupted all around us, of a million gears grinding, as if the whole pool were turning into one giant machine._**

**_Grover yelled, "Guys!"_**

**_Up on the rim, the Cupid statues were drawing their bows into firing position. Before I could suggest taking cover, they shot, but not at us. They fired at each other, across the rim of the pool. Silky cables trailed from the arrows, arcing over the pool and anchoring where they landed to form a huge golden asterisk. Then smaller metallic threads started weaving together magically between the main strands, making a net._**

**_"We have to get out," I said._**

**_"Duh!" Annabeth said._**

**_I grabbed the shield and we ran, but going up the slope of the pool was not as easy as going down._**

**_"Come on!" Grover shouted._**

**_He was trying to hold open a section of the net for us, but wherever he touched it, the golden threads started to wrap around his hands._**

"This is actually pretty neat if you think about it." Hermes said, that net sounded interesting.

**_The Cupids' heads popped open. Out came video cameras. Spotlights rose up all around the pool, blinding us with illumination, and a loudspeaker voice boomed: "Live to Olympus in one minute ... Fifty-nine seconds, fifty-eight ..."_**

"Don't tell me…" Annabeth was too horrified by the thought of her mother and the whole of Olymphus seeing her on a love ride with her future husband.

"It is actually a pretty good video." Lance said to the pale looking girl.

**_"Hephaestus!" Annabeth screamed. "I'm so stupid.' Eta is H.' He made this trap to catch his wife with Ares. Now we're going to be broadcast live to Olympus and look like absolute fools!"_**

Annabeth made a mental note to _not _enter that love ride.

**_We'd almost made it to the rim when the row of mirrors opened like hatches and thousands of tiny metallic ... things poured out._**

**_Annabeth screamed._**

"She will be fine." Sally reassured everyone, in their time her mom could laugh about this memory which said how much she was over it, she even asked for a copy of the video.

**_It was an army of wind-up creepy-crawlies: bronze-gear bodies, spindly legs, little pincer mouths, all scuttling toward us in a wave of clacking, whirring metal._**

**_"Spiders!" Annabeth said. "Sp—sp—aaaah!"_**

Said girl let out a panicked yelp again as Luke went over to her and hugged his mother while an also panicked Malcolm was consoled by Mitchell who was rubbing his back while holding the blonde.

"What is with them?" Trickster asked in confusion while Athena looked worriedly at her children.

"Did you competate against a weaver?" Sally asked her grandmother who gave a slight nod.

"Last week I gave a quest for a contest to a mortal named Arachne, though till now I have not seen the result of her work, but there is still time." she said.

"Well…then please think reasonable then what you will do then it will for forever torment your children and in the end you will regret that deed more then the case with Medusa." Sally told her while looking over her mother and aunt before turning to her cousin. "En, if I remember right there should be a song kind of being about this one which would be really fitting in my option and sum up the whole thing perfectly."

"Which one?" Enysswe asked in confusion when Misty jumped up and got closer to her.

"A band from some of my siblings under the name Spiral Dance." she told her.

"Fine." she replied as her eyes become blue again and the air filled with the sound of guitars, drums and something that sounded like a flute.

_Arachnea weaves and she weaves so well  
she weaves a passage where the God's will fly  
Athena laughs as she casts her spell  
while she watches from her loom on high_

Athena raised her eyebrow, but did not interrupt because she saw the way her children had reacted to the spiders and she still remembered painfully the whole Medusa incident.

"The tune is pretty catchy, it is kind of like a song from our time." Apollo told Hermes who needed to agree.

"Though I think it is also partly because of the one performing it." he added in to his brother who looked proud at the comment regards his granddaughter.

_Athena, Athena, Goddess born lady you're a jealous one  
and Arachea knows that you are watching her  
waiting for her work to be undone  
Athena, have you set the quest  
will you take the weave and will you break the weft  
or will you let this lady spin her tapestry  
of a tale untold and then set her free_

Athena didn't know why, but the last for made her feel uneasy.

_Arachne, Arachnea the Goddess Athena has a quest for you  
and you must weave a story of the God's that rule  
in all their mystery and you must tell it true_

The goddess nodded her head, this was what she had asked for knowing that it would be impossible for her to do.

_so Arachnea's woven for seven moons  
she's spun with silver thread upon an apple wood loom  
and she's told the story of the God's that rule  
in all their mystery and yes she's told it true_

This stunned the goddess and by the nods she received from the legacies was it hard to deny, the other gods looked also surprised.

_so Athena came to earth disguised as a crone  
to gaze upon the tapestry this mortal woman's sewn_

"That would certainly be something you would do." Artemis told her sister, she was not good with keeping her curiosity for long in check.

_and in and out the fabric that was stretched across the loom  
the sins and secrets of the God's were shows_

"Ugh…pretty big tapestry then." Apollo said flinching while the other gods looked uncomfortable, they were starting to get why Sally asked her grandmother to be reasonable, she wanted the truth weaved, she got it. Apollo also didn't like the flash of a black form and something like webs around a statue, but again he didn't see the picture clearly.

_Athena, Athena, Goddess born lady you're an angry one  
and as you spin your spell around Arachnea  
to shift her shape into a weaving one_

Athena gasped, she started to understand what she had done and how it was bound to the reaction of her children.

_and as Arachnea sits and weaves upon her web_

And this confirmed it.

_she casts her mind back and she remembers when  
she told the story of the God's that rule  
in all their mystery and how she told it true_

Enysswe finished singing, her eyes becoming three colours again before she looked up at the goddess.

"I hope when the times comes will you do the right thing this time around, but if you need more proof, one of these books will give you more reasons." she said at which both Annabeth and Malcolm clung closer to the ones holding them.

"We should now continue, the chapter is soon done." Sally told them as everyone nodded, but reluctantly though Athena was still looking at her children as her father continued.

**_I'd never seen her like this before. She fell backward in terror and almost got overwhelmed by the spider robots before I pulled her up and dragged her back toward the boat._**

No matter how even hearing about those spider automatons scarred her had Annabeth a small smile on her lips that Percy had done this for her.

**_The things were coming out from all around the rim now, millions of them, flooding toward the center of the pool, completely surrounding us. I told myself they probably weren't programmed to kill, just corral us and bite us and make us look stupid. Then again, this was a trap meant for gods. And we weren't gods._**

"They would hurt more, but not kill." Hephaestus said, he didn't like it how scarred that girl looked because of his creations no matter if she would be fine later on.

**_Annabeth and I climbed into the boat._**

**_I started kicking away the spiders as they swarmed aboard. I yelled at Annabeth to help me, but she was too paralyzed to do much more than scream._**

Annabeth felt useless about hering that, but her son gently whispered to her that it was not her fault and it seemed to calm her. She even wondered if this was like how she felt with Percy, protected and without doubts because he doesn't let her think like that.

**_"Thirty, twenty-nine," called the loudspeaker._**

**_The spiders started spitting out strands of metal thread, trying to tie us down. The strands were easy enough to break at first, but there were so many of them, and the spiders just kept coming. I kicked one away from Annabeth's leg and its pincers took a chunk out of my new surf shoe._**

"Lord Hephaestus, you can say that again that it would hurt more." Connor said wide eyed, that ride sounded more like a nightmare then fun.

**_Grover hovered above the pool in his flying sneakers, trying to pull the net loose, but it wouldn't budge._**

**_Think, I told myself. Think._**

**_The Tunnel of Love entrance was under the net. We could use it as an exit, except that it was blocked by a million robot spiders._**

**_"Fifteen, fourteen," the loudspeaker called._**

**_Water, I thought. Where does the ride's water come from?_**

**_Then I saw them: huge water pipes behind the mirrors, where the spiders had come from. And up above the net, next to one of the Cupids, a glass-windowed booth that must be the controller's station._**

**_"Grover!" I yelled. "Get into that booth! Find the 'on' switch!"_**

**_"But—"_**

**_"Do it!" It was a crazy hope, but it was our only chance. The spiders were all over the prow of the boat now. Annabeth was screaming her head off. I had to get us out of there._**

"So this is what you meant about him intentionally using his powers." Triton said as he looked at his niece seeing how his nephew was still busy.

"Yes." come the reply.

**_Grover was in the controller's booth now, slamming away at the buttons._**

**_"Five, four—"_**

**_Grover looked up at me hopelessly, raising his hands. He was letting me know that he'd pushed every button, but still nothing was happening._**

**_I closed my eyes and thought about waves, rushing water, the Mississippi River. I felt a familiar tug in my gut. I tried to imagine that I was dragging the ocean all the way to Denver._**

"Why do I have the feeling that this will be a bit overboard." Triton said, but then he heard the legacies snorting.

"Fourth book." they told him and he really didn't like hearing that.

**_"Two, one, _****_zero_****_!"_**

**_Water exploded out of the pipes._**

"And the show starts." Travis whispered to Connor and Chris.

**_It roared into the pool, sweeping away the spiders. I pulled Annabeth into the seat next to me and fastened her seat belt_**

Annabeth smiled again at this, he was really a nice guy and even Athena and Frederic looked thankful that Percy was taking care of Annabeth when she was not able to do that for herself.

**_just as the tidal wave slammed into our boat, over the top, whisking the spiders away and dousing us completely, but not capsizing us. The boat turned, lifted in the flood, and spun in circles around the whirlpool._**

**_The water was full of short-circuiting spiders, some of them smashing against the pool's concrete wall with such force they burst._**

**_Spotlights glared down at us. The Cupid-cams were rolling, live to Olympus._**

"It kind of made everyone stop and stare at the screens, I think grandmother even fainted while grandaunt Athena and granduncle Poseidon who were in the middle of an argument were frozen down for at least twenty minutes after the cameras shut down." Mich told the others who all nodded their heads, they could see that happening.

**_But I could only concentrate on controlling the boat._**

"Good son." Poseidon said as Jason nodded, the power controlling boats was a good gift which had helped them often with the Argo.

**_I willed it to ride the current, to keep away from the wall. Maybe it was my imagination, but the boat seemed to respond._**

"Not technically, dad can control boats." Sally said while the demigods looked interested at this, no wonder that he was good at canoeing.

**_At least, it didn't break into a million pieces. We spun around one last time, the water level now almost high enough to shred us against the metal net. Then the boat's nose turned toward the tunnel and we rocketed through into the darkness._**

**_Annabeth and I held tight, both of us screaming as the boat shot curls and hugged corners and took forty-five-degree plunges past pictures of Romeo and Juliet and a bunch of other Valentine's Day stuff._**

"Again that kills all romance." Gwen added in, she liked Romeo and Juliet, she had read it like ten times, but still she would not feel like looking at those pictures in that type of situation.

**_Then we were out of the tunnel, the night air whistling through our hair as the boat barreled straight toward the exit._**

**_If the ride had been in working order, we would've sailed off a ramp between the golden Gates of Love and splashed down safely in the exit pool. But there was a problem. The Gates of Love were chained. Two boats that had been washed out of the tunnel before us were now piled against the barricade—one submerged, the other cracked in half._**

This drew again groans from everyone.

**_"Unfasten your seat belt," I yelled to Annabeth._**

**_"Are you crazy?"_**

"Yup!" the legacies said.

**_"Unless you want to get smashed to death." I strapped Ares's shield to my arm. "We're going to have to jump for it." My idea was simple and insane. _**

"Though it could work if the jump's timing is right." Athena said in a thoughtful tone.

**_As the boat struck, we would use its force like a springboard to jump the gate. I'd heard of people surviving car crashes that way, getting thrown thirty or forty feet away from an accident. With luck, we would land in the pool._**

"Then let Annabeth do the timing." the Greek demigods, beside the two children of Athena, at the same time.

**_Annabeth seemed to understand. She gripped my hand as the gates got closer._**

**_"On my mark," I said._**

**_"No! On my mark!"_**

"Good then they will manage to land in the pool." Theseus said in relief, he wanted this chapter to end, but he had not many hopes regards the other books.

"The chapter is also over soon." Zeus stated to the room before turning his gaze back to the book.

**_"What?"_**

**_"Simple physics!" she yelled. "Force times the trajectory angle—"_**

"Annabeth, not the time." Silena told her friend who gave her a small smile, she was slowly getting better and Malcolm seemed to also get over his fright.

**_"Fine.'" I shouted. "On _****_your _****_mark!"_**

There were some weak snickers at this.

**_She hesitated ... hesitated ... then yelled, "Now!"_**

**_Crack!_**

**_Annabeth was right. If we'd jumped when I thought we should've, we would've crashed into the gates. She got us maximum lift._**

Athena smiled proudly at her daughter, but her actuall realief was because her children seemed to slowly get better.

**_Unfortunately, that was a little more than we needed._**

And the smiles disappeared…

**_Our boat smashed into the pileup and we were thrown into the air, straight over the gates, over the pool, and down toward solid asphalt._**

…and worry took their place.

**_Something grabbed me from behind._**

**_Annabeth yelled, "Ouch!"_**

**_Grover!_**

"Thank the gods that Grover was there." Lee sighed in relief, if they would have crashed on the asphalt with that lift it would have caused serious broken bones and could even end with internal bleedings which were even with ambrosia and nectar hard to cure and they didn't even have any of those.

**_In midair, he had grabbed me by the shirt, and Annabeth by the arm, and was trying to pull us out of a crash landing, but Annabeth and I had all the momentum._**

**_"You're too heavy!" Grover said. "We're going down!"_**

"Just try to put them down carefully." Orpheus said while prying Theseus off of himself.

**_We spiraled toward the ground, Grover doing his best to slow the fall._**

**_We smashed into a photo-board, Grover's head going straight into the hole where tourists would put their faces, pretending to be Noo-Noo the Friendly Whale. _**

Katie glared that the Stolls that they should not dare laughing at the situation.

**_Annabeth and I tumbled to the ground, banged up but alive._**

"Which is a good thing." replied their parents.

**_Ares's shield was still on my arm._**

**_Once we caught our breath, Annabeth and I got Grover out of the photo-board and thanked him for saving our lives. I looked back at the Thrill Ride of Love. The water was subsiding. Our boat had been smashed to pieces against the gates._**

"At least you're alright," Chiron said in relief.

**_A hundred yards away, at the entrance pool, the Cupids were still filming._**

**_The statues had swiveled so that their cameras were trained straight on us, the spotlights in our faces._**

**_"Show's over!" I yelled. "Thank you! Good night!"_**

Now though everyone who knew these phrases started laughing at Percy's antics even after such an experience.

"I love how he can keep his good humour up." Chris said.

"Yep, dad may have been in his youth a pessimist, but he also has a good humour." Luke said when his mother signalled to him that she was fine now, Malcolm also pulled away from Mitchell after thanking him.

**_The Cupids turned back to their original positions. The lights shut off. The park went quiet and dark again, except for the gentle trickle of water into the Thrill Ride of Love's exit pool. I wondered if Olympus had gone to a commercial break, or if our ratings had been any good._**

"They had some of the highest ones in the history of Olymphos." Nathan told them, he had also seen the video.

**_I hated being teased._**

The legacies nodded their heads in confirmation.

**_I hated being tricked._**

More nods.

**_And I had plenty of experience handling bullies who liked to do that stuff to me. I hefted the shield on my arm and turned to my friends. "We need to have a little talk with Ares."_**

"This was the end of the chapter." Zeus said as Hera took the book from his hands and started reading.

"The new chapter is called **_We Take a Zebra to Vegas_**_"_ she read as Henry scooted closer to Enysswe, he knew that his cousin would need him, his uncle still hated that hotel, yes he accepted why he needed to stay there for so long, but he still hated that place.

_To be continued…_


	16. Not as good as it sounds

A/N: So here is the new chapter, as also noted by _**Story time at Brooklyn House **_that I thought that getting ten reviews would go faster, well **aesir21** did a pretty good example how this could have been gotten done much faster.

* * *

XVI. Not as good as it sounds

The twin sons of Ares were still out cold while the others sitting outside were waiting for the Queen of Heavens to continue with her reading, when no sound was heard after the title they guessed that those inside started talking about something.

"To bad that we can't hear their conversations, well beside the extremely loud screams on occasions that is." Poros told the others.

"It would be really nice to know what the options of those on the inside are." Iris agreed when from the corner of her eyes she spotted something gray moving. "Morpheus, what are you doing?" she asked the dream god as that kneeled down between the still out cold brothers.

"Nothing, only a little pay-back for a small incident not long ago, don't worry it will be nothing harmful." he told her with a grin as he took out a small ball of dark blue light he received from Epiales and placed it on Phobos's forehead where it dissolved, then the second ball with a tinge of crimson in the blue light given to him by Icelos was placed on Deimos. The gods watched curiously as the twins faces started frowning.

"You babysitted him too much." Nemessis whispered to Eris who beamed at her nephew who was slowly making his way over to them.

"As did you, I'm so proud." Eris replied beaming as the reading finally started again.

**_The war god was waiting for us in the diner parking lot._**

**_"Well, well," he said. "You didn't get yourself killed."_**

"Way to start the obvious dad." Adrestia said while rolling her eyes before she turned over to her sister Harmonia who was sitting beside her. "Nia, stop looking so worried those two will be fine." she told the other.

"Are you sure about that?" she asked while her gaze flickered back to her two brothers who slowly started sweating, and it took much to make a god sweet.

"Yep, those two need to be on occasions put into their place, as the one who represents harmony you should also know that sis." Adrestia said as the other nodded her head in understanding before proceeding to hug her sister who let out a little laugh at that, she still wondered how her father managed to have her with their mother Aphrodite, but she did not complain, she would keep her safe from herm or sadness.

**_"You knew it was a trap," I said._**

The listeners could not help themselves, of course he would know that his brother would eventually figure out their new dating place and set up traps. The usual question tends to be what kind of trap?

**_Ares gave me a wicked grin. "Bet that crippled black smith was surprised when he netted a couple of stupid kids._**

"Of course would he be surprised, usually the two of you go to places where the mortals don't or only rarely." Pothos said while sneaking a glance at Phobos who seemed to be having a nightmare of some sorts, he was not sure, but he thought that he had heard his name a few seconds ago spoken by him. It was probably his imagination.

**_You looked good on TV."_**

"Well, they probably did." whispered Horme to Hedone who needed to agree, this was one of the situations which sound bad when they happen, but later on become a funny tale to tell.

**_I shoved his shield at him. "You're a jerk."_**

"I don't think that it is healthy for him to do that" Soteria said in a worried tone, then added "even thought he has that one correct."

"He will be fine." Soter told her reassuringly, being ones opposite-gender counterpart tends to make you feel the others feelings if you want it or not.

**_Annabeth and Grover caught their breath._**

Many nodded their heads in understanding at the reactions from the young demigod and satyr, most people don't comment such tings to a war god if they are not a more high ranked god.

"Please let me help him." Tyche mumbled a small prayer at which the Litae sisters raised their eyebrows at her before shaking their heads, what was it today with the others praying at their own names; the spirits of prayer did really not understand.

**_Ares grabbed the shield and spun it in the air like pizza dough. It changed form, melting into a bulletproof vest. He slung it across his back._**

**_"See that truck over there?" He pointed to an eighteen-wheeler parked across the street from the diner. "That's your ride._**

Everyone stared blinking at the palace, mostly the children of the war god when there was a new yell from the palace.

"Sounds as if Ares got again tackled by Apollo and Athena." Enyo laughed in amusement as she imagined her brother's expression when both other their siblings threw themselves at him, maybe in a way he would not mind Athena, but Apollo would be to much for him.

**_Take you straight to L.A., with one stop in Vegas."_**

"Hopefully they will get it soon that it was not our father who stole the Master Bolt." Melinoe said with a nod, she hated it when her father was blamed for things he did not do, really only because he kidnapped his later wife did not mean that he was a bad person!

She hated that he was banned from Olymphos, the way others had even looked at her and her siblings when they were little and their mother had them with her, Macaria could get away after a while and their brother preferred the Underworld, but her being the oldest child she suffered the most. Due to her two coloured body and other features, the powers over ghosts, she noted the looks of distaste and fear, it happened often that she asked her mother to let her go back to her father and she would just sit in his lap as he worked for long hours, his cold hand in her hair as he consoled her. She loved him, she really did and it both hurt and infuriated her how he gets treated by others, she was feeling agreement with her future half-brother Hitler for stepping up against those who had treated their father wrongly. He did not deserve to be scorned, to be seen as a villain! She did not know how long she will hold out with the unjust, how long she will be able to watch him suffer in silence, if nothing happens, nothing changes then _she_ would set her foot down in favour of her father to finally make him act, to claim what should justly be his!

"Uhm…though I'm worried about the other option." Zagreus mumbled, he did not want to anger his sister, he also wanted for people to see that their father was not a bad person, but the other option would be their grandfather and that was not good at all.

**_The eighteen-wheeler had a sign on the back, which I could read only because it was reverse-printed white on black, a good combination for dyslexia: KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL: HUMANE ZOO TRANSPORT. WARNING: LIVE WILD ANIMALS._**

The nature spirits and those responsible for nature frowned at this, they had heard by this time a few things about these horseless chariots and they didn't sound like something in which they want to place a wild animal.

**_I said, "You're kidding."_**

"Not exactly, his jokes sound different and are usually terrible." Eros said, his father was terrible at telling those. "Pothos, are you alright?" he suddenly asked his brother who was looking at Phobos with a sight frown on his face and…was Deimos whimpering their mother's name?

"Nothing…I just thought that Phobos was saying my name." he answered to his brother while looking at the now shaking God of Fear.

"It may be your imagination." Eros told him.

"Could be, I mean why would he say my name when having a nightmare." Pothos replied back grinning brightly and turned back to the palace.

**_Ares snapped his fingers. The back door of the truck unlatched. "Free ride west, punk. Stop complaining. And here's a little something for doing the job."_**

Some of the divinities narrowed their eyes, remembering what the messenger sent by Lord Poseidon had said about not trusting the gifts.

**_He slung a blue nylon backpack off his handlebars and tossed it to me._**

The frowns deepened while the conscious children of the War God, what did their father do this time?

"There might be more to his actions then we are currently seeing." Hecate spoke up which relaxed them somewhat.

"I need to agree, the fact that he is there and not getting his weapons ready when a Divine War is approaching is more then strange and highly unusual from him and not something I could see him do consciously." Kratos spoke up who finally found it safe to let go of Nesoi who much to his relief did not move from beside him or made any attempts to storm into the palace, she always took it as a great insult if an island gets destroyed, well with her being an elemental premodial was it understandable, leaving alone that she split her own essence up and placed them to each guard an island so she felt their los even stronger when the part returned to her.

"So you mean that someone may be manipulating our father without his knowledge?" Harmonia asked worriedly.

"Could be for I can't see him doing such trips when his father's Symbol of Power was stolen, I would sooner see him still hunting after the thief then doing this." Nemesis added in her own option which made some of the others exchange nervous glances.

"It seems that a great trouble is ahead of those in the future." Hemara noted sighing, her mother had often stated that she felt a lingering darkness slowly crawling in the air which never disappeared since her elder sister Gaea had committed her sins which are each generation repeated in a way by her children.

**_Inside were fresh clothes for all of us, twenty bucks in cash, a pouch full of golden drachmas, and a bag of Double Stuff Oreos._**

"I'm certainly agreeing with your suspicions." Angelia she did not like it just like the others, to get an influence on a god is not easy.

**_I said, "I don't want your lousy—"_**

**_"Thank you, Lord Ares," Grover interrupted, giving me his best red-alert warning look. "Thanks a lot."_**

"He has no self-preservation like his half-brother Bellerophon… though that is not combined with pride." Soter said as he shook his head.

"At least there is that, the boy needs to control his fatal flaw or it will cost him his life one day." Eunomia pointed out.

**_I gritted my teeth. It was probably a deadly insult to refuse something from a god, but I didn't want anything that Ares had touched._**

There were a good deal of snorts about that comment.

"Meaning that he will never fall for any of Aphrodite's flirting attempts in his life like some of the other demigods on occasions." Pistis said with a small laugh, there were not many who could say 'no' to the Goddess of Love.

**_Reluctantly, I slung the backpack over my shoulder. I knew my anger was being caused by the war god's presence, but I was still itching to punch him in the nose._**

"As tempting as that sounds, please don't endanger your health." Aceso pleaded, she knew that it would mean a good deal of wounds which would need healing and they had noting to do that with.

**_He reminded me of every bully I'd ever faced:_**

No one commented seeing that this was part of the god's aura, it was a natural thing.

**_Nancy Bobofit, Clarisse, Smelly Gabe, sarcastic teachers—every jerk who'd called me stupid in school or laughed at me when I'd gotten expelled. I looked back at the diner, which had only a couple of customers now. The waitress who'd served us dinner was watching nervously out the window, like she was afraid Ares might hurt us._**

There were a few smiles at this that the woman seemed to care.

**_She dragged the fry cook out from the kitchen to see. She said something to him. He nodded, held up a little disposable camera and snapped a picture of us. _**

**_Great, I thought. We'll make the papers again tomorrow._**

**_I imagined the headline: TWELVE-YEAR-OLD OUTLAW BEATS UP DEFENSELESS BIKER._**

"I don't think that the mist will be active if he departs normally." Cleta told the others while her sister Celleis was wowing small pearls into her hair with golden threads.

**_"You owe me one more thing," I told Ares, trying to keep my voice level. "You promised me information about my mother."_**

Everyone leaned ahead in their sitting spots curious if he really had some information or if that had been only a bluff from his side, well beside the twins Fear and Terror who were tossing around in their nightmares, though no one paid to much attention to them.

**_"You sure you can handle the news?" He kickstarted his motorcycle. "She's not dead."_**

"Well at least now Percy also knows." Triteia said with a smile, she was kind of starting to like her new uncle, he in some ways reminded her on her father Triton, mostly in the sarcastic department.

**_The ground seemed to spin beneath me. "What do you mean?"_**

"This must have certainly shocked the poor boy." Iris noted softly.

**_"I mean she was taken away from the Minotaur before she could die._**

"Thank Lord Hades for that, for whatever his reasons in the end will be, she is through him still alive." Selene said happily as others gave sound of agreement while the three siblings of the Underworld exchanged small smiles, hoping that soon more of the others will see that their father is a good person.

**_She was turned into a shower of gold, right? That's metamorphosis. Not death. She's being kept."_**

Everyone who was familiar with that term nodded their heads in agreement when suddenly their eyes flew to the side where the twins had finally come to be and jumped up from where they had lain on the ground, faces ashen and sweaty.

"Are you alright?" Eros asked his younger brothers though Deimos was only mumbling something about the colour pink and their mother before making a mad run in the direction of his temple while Phobos was staring wide eyed at Pothos.

"YOU STAY OUT OF MY CLOSET!" he yelled suddenly in panic and run after his twin leaving back a small cloud of dust.

"What was that about?" Pothos asked in bewilderment before his face turned green. "Those closets are dreadfully dirty and disgusting according to mother, I would sooner become the deity of chastity then go even near them." he said in a disturbed tone while a bit farther Eris was laughing and hugging her smirking nephew while Nemesis shook her head, just what type of nightmares did her two brothers conjure up and given to their nephew? She decided that she didn't need to know.

**_"Kept. Why?"_**

**_"You need to study war, punk. Hostages. You take somebody to control somebody else."_**

"Though in that case there is also a message or ransom note in such cases." Enyo pointed out as the other deities associated with war nodded their heads in agreement.

"Meaning that again there is more to the case then meets the eye." Dolos said in interest, he wondered if this last suggestion may have been a trick, well no one can blame him that was one of his properties.

**_"Nobody's controlling me."_**

"It is hard to decide an answer for this so let's settle for yes and no." Arete said while looking over at Ariadne.

"I think that this would be the best answer, he is being led due to a prophecy and for the gods, but he is also going because of his own reasons." she elaborated.

"That is true." Arete agreed with her friend.

**_He laughed. "Oh yeah? See you around, kid."_**

**_I balled up my fists. "You're pretty smug, Lord Ares, for a guy who runs from Cupid statues."_**

A few of the deities and sprits groaned at this while a few others snickered at the bold comment from the young demigod while inside the palace were the others laughing more openly that apparently Ares would flee from statues showing his own son.

**_Behind his sunglasses, fire glowed. I felt a hot wind in my hair. "We'll meet again, Percy Jackson. Next time you're in a fight, watch your back."_**

"I for my best will can't decide if this was now a threat or an advice." Caerus said and noted how others had the same trouble.

**_He revved his Harley, then roared off down Delancy Street._**

**_Annabeth said, "That was not smart, Percy."_**

**_"I don't care."_**

"We certainly believe him that." Alala said with a smirk, after that package action a few chapters ago they were not surprised that easily by that demigod, poor Lord Poseidon.

**_"You don't want a god as your enemy. Especially not that god."_**

"Why do I have the unwelcome feeling that he won't care." Iris muttered to herself worriedly.

**_"Hey, guys," Grover said. "I hate to interrupt, but ..."_**

**_He pointed toward the diner. At the register, the last two customers were paying their check, two men in identical black coveralls, with a white logo on their backs that matched the one on the KINDNESS INTERNATIONAL truck._**

**_"If we're taking the zoo express," Grover said, "we need to hurry."_**

**_I didn't like it, but we had no better option. Besides, I'd seen enough of Denver._**

There were some snickers at this, they could imagine that after that water park trip he would have enough from the city for a while.

**_We ran across the street and climbed in the back of the big rig, closing the doors behind us._**

**_The first thing that hit me was the smell. It was like the world's biggest pan of kitty litter._**

Everyone looked confused at this, they had no clue what a 'kitty litter' was, but it could not be to good if one states that a smell hit them.

**_The trailer was dark inside until I uncapped Anaklusmos. The blade cast a faint bronze light over a very sad scene._**

The confusion was replaced with frowns.

**_Sitting in a row of filthy metal cages were three of the most pathetic zoo animals I'd ever beheld: a zebra, a male albino lion, and some weird antelope thing I didn't know the name for._**

**_Someone had thrown the lion a sack of turnips, which he obviously didn't want to eat. The zebra and the antelope had each gotten a Styrofoam tray of hamburger meat. The zebra's mane was matted with chewing gum, like somebody had been spitting on it in their spare time. The antelope had a stupid silver birthday balloon tied to one of his horns that read OVER THE HILL!_**

And slipped immediately into anger followed by many outraged sounds, the loudest coming from the palace as Lady Artemis screamed death threats together with Dionysus and Pan. It had been not easy to calm everyone down seeing that those who tried were also offended on behalf of those animals till Hemera stood up and let a stream of light trail around everyone, this got everyone's attention and made them look at her in confusion.

"Calm down, I don't think that these two demigods and young satyr would let these animals stay there, the zebra was even mentioned in the chapter title as well as this 'vegas' so it will be fine." she told them and sat back down with a sigh.

"You did really well." Aether told her as he kissed his sister/wife on the head.

"I'm starting to see how much work we had caused mom." she told him, even though they were the oldest two children act around each other more different then they would with an adult and with her constantly switching places with her mother in the upper world was she often rarely in the presence of her younger siblings in their most active times.

**_Apparently, nobody had wanted to get close enough to the lion to mess with him, but the poor thing was pacing around on soiled blankets,_**

The frowns returned to their faces.

**_in a space way too small for him,_**

Many fingers dug into the earth.

**_panting from the stuffy heat of the trailer. He had flies buzzing around his pink eyes and his ribs showed through his white fur._**

Growls filled the air as everyone tried to control their anger towards the treatment of those animals.

**_"This is kindness?" Grover yelled. "Humane zoo transport?"_**

"We agree!" chorused everyone in full agreement, there was noting humane about that!

**_He probably would've gone right back outside to beat up the truckers with his reed pipes,_**

There were some snickers at this, mostly from the satyrs who imagined doing just that to those people.

**_and I would've helped him,_**

Many nodded their heads approvingly at the young demigod's idea.

**_but just then the trucks engine roared to life, the trailer started shaking, and we were forced to sit down or fall down. We huddled in the corner on some mildewed feed sacks, trying to ignore the smell and the heat and the flies._**

Many wrinkled their noses at this, it must have not been easy for the trio.

**_Grover talked to the animals in a series of goat bleats, but they just stared at him sadly. Annabeth was in favor of breaking the cages and freeing them on the spot,_**

"Good girl." Iris mumbled under her breath, she was both angry and annoyed at those humans that they torture those poor animals like that.

**_but I pointed out it wouldn't do much good until the truck stopped moving. Besides, I had a feeling we might look a lot better to the lion than those turnips._**

"Well, it _is_ a carnivore and not a herbivore animal so that was a good idea." Helios agreed, by the sounds of it was the poor animal starved for a long time and would jump at the chance to get some flesh.

"Surprising that it had been Lord Poseidon's child who noted this and not Athena's." Pandia pointed out while glancing over at her mother Selene who gave her a small smile.

"Well, we know that it is only her who thinks grandfather dumb." Triteia pointed out to her cousin.

**_I found a water jug and refilled their bowls, then used Anaklusmos to drag the mismatched food out of their cages. I gave the meat to the lion and the turnips to the zebra and the antelope._**

Many smiled at this in gratefulness, that had been a good thing to do in their option, at least now the animals would have food they could eat.

**_Grover calmed the antelope down, while Annabeth used her knife to cut the balloon off his horn. She wanted to cut the gum out of the zebra's mane, too, but we decided that would be too risky with the truck bumping around._**

Cue nods of approval, using a sharp object to remove something from a living thing is in itself risky if it happens close to a place where it would easily cause damage, leave alone if the surface under you is moving around.

**_We told Grover to promise the animals we'd help them more in the morning, then we settled in for night._**

**_Grover curled up on a turnip sack; Annabeth opened our bag of Double Stuf Oreos and nibbled on one halfheartedly; _**

**_I tried to cheer myself up by concentrating on the fact that we were halfway to Los Angeles. Halfway to our destination. It was only June fourteenth. The solstice wasn't until the twenty-first. We could make it in plenty of time._**

"Why do I have a bad feeling about this last comment." Sophrosyne said shaking his head while looking over at Hecate and Nemesis whom both nodded their heads, the others also shifted in uneasiness, preparing themselves for the new trouble that will come towards the trio on their quest.

**_On the other hand, I had no idea what to expect next. The gods kept toying with me. At least Hephaestus had the decency to be honest about it—he'd put up cameras and advertised me as entertainment._**

There were some small smiles at this, but the gods mostly felt uncomfortable. It was true that they tended to play around with the mortals, but that was not always the case sometimes were their intentions with them honest, but did not know how to fully express them. A great drawback of the fact if one is immortal, they change and adapt rather slowly.

**_But even when the cameras weren't rolling, I had a feeling my quest was being watched. I was a source of amusement for the gods._**

"Uhm…that is only makeable with the help of _looking waters_ and they have a time limit and also you need to know whom you wish to see and where they are at that time." Hecate pointed out before going rigid. "Only a few divinities can gaze down into the mortal world without them…" she said carefully at which the others also tensed in nervousness, things were really pointing towards only one suspect.

**_"Hey," Annabeth said, "I'm sorry for freaking out back at the water park, Percy."_**

**_"That's okay."_**

**_"It's just..." She shuddered. "Spiders."_**

"I wonder why Phobos gave her such a strong fear from those, I know that Athena does not like them much, but this is a bit extreme, that poor girl was literally frozen down from fear." Tyche said with a frown on her face, if this would happen in a few years sure she would guess that this was revenge, but in so many millennia? She did not know what to think about this and hoped that they would get an answer.

**_"Because of the Arachne story," I guessed._**

"Huh?" asked everyone in confusion.

"Isn't she the weaver Athena had tasked with a quest to make a tapestry about the currently ruling gods with their mysteries, but she must only wave the truth?" asked a Ponos as he looked over at the others who were all nodding their heads at this.

"Why do I have a strange feeling that Athena did something she should have not." Enyo said, her sister was intelligent yes, but she was also too prideful sometimes and if she decided on punishment she failed to see the end results in a long run, as if her pride and war goddess side would make a cloud which stops all of her logic. Medusa was a nice example not only from their time, but also in the future as they had heard.

**_She got turned into a spider for challenging your mom to a weaving contest, right?"_**

"Athena, what did you do again!" Enyo groaned as she covered her face with one of her hands.

**_Annabeth nodded. "Arachne's children have been taking revenge on the children of Athena ever since._**

Now had the others also covered their faces and groaned, really what had gone wrong with that tapestry thing that Athena would create a monster which not only felt hate for Athena just like Medusa, but would have children which are more normal and not monsters, going after her children.

**_If there's a spider within a mile of me, it'll find me._**

Hecate shook her head and added a new point to her list with the feather on her list to make sure that someone goes with Athena when that tapestry is done if they don't find out what her problem with it had been, her children really should not deserve to be tormented all their lives.

**_I hate the creepy little things. Anyway, I owe you."_**

**_"We're a team, remember?" I said. "Besides, Grover did the fancy flying."_**

"He certainly did." one of he satyrs said grinning as his kinsmen had small smiles on their faces.

**_I thought he was asleep, but he mumbled from the corner, "I was pretty amazing, wasn't I?"_**

"He sure was." another satyr agreed.

**_Annabeth and I laughed._**

**_She pulled apart an Oreo, handed me half. "In the Iris message ... did Luke really say nothing?"_**

"You don't want to know child." Eleos said, those things mostly at the end were not nice things to say about people one considers a friend.

**_I munched my cookie and thought about how to answer. The conversation via rainbow had bothered me all evening._**

"Because it was bothersome." one of the dryads pointed out, implying one of your close friends you call a sister and ten mention a tragic incident which probably still saddens those who had witnessed it.

**_"Luke said you and he go way back. He also said Grover wouldn't fail this time. Nobody would turn into a pine tree."_**

Many faces darkened at the memory of that last line, that would certainly rip open old wounds.

**_In the dim bronze light of the sword blade, it was hard to read their expressions._**

**_Grover let out a mournful bray._**

**_"I should've told you the truth from the beginning." His voice trembled. "I thought if you knew what a failure I was, you wouldn't want me along."_**

"He should not feel like a failure, if he would be then he would have not faced Medusa." Iris pointed out.

"Also looking at the fact what all had been after them and in the story about the happenings on the hill was it told clearly that she had decided to sacrifice herself for them. It had been her decision and not that of her protector to take the two other demigods to safety." Ariadne added in at which everyone nodded, this was true so the young satyr should not feel this guilty about that.

**_"You were the satyr who tried to rescue Thalia, the daughter of Zeus."_**

**_He nodded glumly._**

"He managed to save two demigods out of three, one of them only seven when a hoard of hellhounds and Alecto and her sisters were after them and probably even more monsters because of the broken oath, he should be happy that any of them made it." Helios said who beside ruling over he sun was also the guardian of oaths and knew that breaking one which was made on the Styx held terrible consequences and because it was made on not having anymore demigods for a ground about which they are still not informed then it would from the divinity immediately transfer over to the ground of the breaking, meaning the demigod child in this case. Of course this also meant that…now he got it.

"Helios?" Selene asked when she saw a strange expression on the other's face.

"I just figured out why Percy has it so hard." he exclaimed at which everyone turned to him.

"Why is it?" Tyche demanded, she wanted to know it was because of her or not.

"The broken oath, the punishment was automatically transferred to the demigods children of both Lord Zeus and Lord Poseidon seeing that they are immortal and the fact that they were the ones initiating it only worsened the punishment." he explained to the others who looked at him with darkened faces.

"Meaning that they had literally damned their children to suffer." Iris said distastefully, she did not find this fair.

"For their father's sins the children shall pay." Momus spoke up from beside his sisters the Keres.

"Unfortunately." many mumbled darkly.

**_"And the other two half-bloods Thalia befriended, the ones who got safely to camp ..." I looked at Annabeth. "That was you and Luke, wasn't it?"_**

No one commented, they had already figured this out.

**_She put down her Oreo, uneaten. "Like you said, Percy, a seven-year-old half-blood wouldn't have made it very far alone. Athena guided me toward help. Thalia was twelve. Luke was fourteen. They'd both run away from home, like me. They were happy to take me with them. They were ... amazing monster-fighters, even without training. We traveled north from Virginia without any real plans, fending off monsters for about two weeks before Grover found us."_**

**_"I was supposed to escort Thalia to camp," he said, sniffling. "Only Thalia. I had strict orders from Chiron: don't do anything that would slow down the rescue._**

"But that would have meant that the other two might have not survived for to long." someone pointed out.

**_We knew Hades was after her, see, but I couldn't just leave Luke and Annabeth by themselves._**

Soteria smiled at this, no matter how it ended one of them was a seven years old child it would have been cruel to leave them behind to fend for themselves.

**_I thought ... I thought I could lead all three of them to safety. It was my fault the Kindly Ones caught up with us. I froze. I got scared on the way back to camp and took some wrong turns. If I'd just been a little quicker …"_**

"As said, with the situation they were in and the greater risk he took to take the other two also with him is it already a great achievement that there were survivors." Arete spoke up as many gave loud to their agreement, the loudest being the satyrs.

**_"Stop it," Annabeth said. "No one blames you. Thalia didn't blame you either."_**

**_"She sacrificed herself to save us," he said miserably, "Her death was my fault. The Council of Cloven Elders said so."_**

"Ignore them." Eris said, she had once had work on such a council meeting, nothing but a bunch of lazy, overweight satyrs who can't get anything done, she found it even a wonder that they could even stand up from their seats.

**_"Because you wouldn't leave two other half-bloods behind?" I said. "That's not fair."_**

A good deal of nature spirits nodded vehemently, the satyr was young and had taken up a dangerous and frightening task and only because he showed care for others also in need was he punished? That was pathetic in their option seeing how easily they can be overpowered by monsters and such.

**_Percy's right," Annabeth said. "I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you, Grover. Neither would Luke. We don't care what the council says."_**

Cue more nods.

**_Grover kept sniffling in the dark. "It's just my luck. I'm the lamest satyr ever, and I find the two most powerful half-bloods of the century, Thalia and Percy."_**

"He should not feel like that and also he just boosted Lord Zeus's and Lord Poseidon's ego regards their kids." Aisa said with a shake of the head.

**_"You're not lame," Annabeth insisted. "You've got more courage than any satyr I've ever met. Name one other who would dare go to the Underworld. I bet Percy is really glad you're here right now."_**

**_She kicked me in the shin._**

"I don't think that was necessary." Eris snickered together with some of the others.

**_"Yeah," I said, which I would've done even without the kick._**

This caused even more of the listeners to snicker, the poor kid.

**_"It's not luck that you found Thalia and me, Grover. You've got the biggest heart of any satyr ever. You're a natural searcher. That's why you'll be the one who finds Pan."_**

All nature sprits smiled hopefully at this, yes it may be right that this satyr will be the one who finds Pan and brings him back home.

**_I heard a deep, satisfied sigh. I waited for Grover to say something, but his breathing only got heavier. When the sound turned to snoring, I realized he'd fallen sleep._**

There were some smiles at this.

**_"How does he do that?" I marveled._**

"Mental and physical exhaustion help my father in his work." Morpheus replied with a shrug, his present aunts and uncles nodding in agreement.

**_"I don't know," Annabeth said. "But that was really a nice thing you told him."_**

**_"I meant it."_**

**_We rode in silence for a few miles, bumping around on the feed sacks. The zebra munched a turnip. The lion licked the last of the hamburger meat off his lips and looked at me hopefully._**

**_Annabeth rubbed her necklace like she was thinking deep, strategic thoughts._**

"Her mother's daughter." many chorused.

**_"That pine-tree bead," I said. "Is that from your first year?"_**

**_She looked. She hadn't realized what she was doing._**

"Must be an unconscious habit then." Dike said, this was not unusual even by the gods.

**_"Yeah," she said. "Every August, the counselors pick the most important event of the summer, and they paint it on that year's beads. I've got Thalia's pine tree, a Greek trireme on fire, a centaur in a prom dress—_**

"A WHAT!" yelled many in confusion, they had not clue what a 'prom' was, but they surely knew what a dress was and with the only Centaur in camp being Chiron that meant…

**_now _****_that _****_was a weird summer..."_**

Everyone agreed with that sentiment, just what had happened on that summer? Well inside the palace were some still laughing at a bet red Chiron, mostly Lupa was amused.

**_"And the college ring is your father's?"_**

**_"That's none of your—" She stopped herself. "Yeah. Yeah, it is."_**

**_"You don't have to tell me."_**

**_"No ... it's okay." She took a shaky breath. "My dad sent it to me folded up in a letter, two summers ago. The ring was, like, his main keepsake from Athena. He wouldn't have gotten through his doctoral program at Harvard without her... That's a long story. Anyway, he said he wanted me to have it. He apologized for being a jerk, said he loved me and missed me. He wanted me to come home and live with him."_**

"Which must have been a short lived thing." some of the deities mumbled seeing what the girl had said some chapters ago and the fact that she spent all year at camp.

**_"That doesn't sound so bad."_**

**_"Yeah, well... the problem was, I believed him. _**

Not many liked the sound of this.

**_I tried to go home for that school year, but my stepmom was the same as ever. She didn't want her kids put in danger by living with a freak._**

Everyone looked warily at the growling children of Night, some even scooted farther away from them for safety measures, they knew how much family meant for them so it was safer to not be close by if they get angered.

**_Monsters attacked. We argued. I didn't even make it through winter break. I called Chiron and came right back to Camp Half-Blood."_**

**_"You think you'll ever try living with your dad again?"_**

**_She wouldn't meet my eyes. "Please. I'm not into self-inflicted pain."_**

**_"You shouldn't give up," I told her. "You should write him a letter or something."_**

**_"Thanks for the advice," she said coldly, "but my father's made his choice about who he wants to live with."_**

"The situation is complicated." Aporia noted with a sigh.

**_We passed another few miles of silence._**

**_"So if the gods fight," I said, "will things line up the way they did with the Trojan War? Will it be Athena versus Poseidon?"_**

**_She put her head against the backpack Ares had given us, and closed her eyes. "I don't know what my mom will do. I just know I'll fight next to you."_**

There was a shocked surprise which had fallen over everyone, they had not expected this comment and were sure that those inside were just as shocked with them, the silence was enough indication for that. They would not have expected that Athena's daughter would in the case of war stand beside Lord Poseidon's son and not by her mother.

It took ten more minutes for everyone to snap out of their stupor, just like when the reading started again.

**_"Why?"_**

**_"Because you're my friend, Seaweed Brain. Any more stupid questions?"_**

There were a few snickers at this, but they were still a bit shocked about Annabeth's comment.

**_I couldn't think of an answer for that. Fortunately I didn't have to. Annabeth was asleep._**

**_I had trouble following her example, with Grover snoring and an albino lion staring hungrily at me, but eventually I closed my eyes._**

**_My nightmare_**

"Great, a new demigod dream." Alke groaned together with some of the others.

**_started out as something I'd dreamed a million times before: I was being forced to take a standardized test while wearing a straitjacket._**

"Er…" not one understood what some of those terms meant.

**_All the other kids were going out to recess, and the teacher kept saying, _****_Come on, Percy. You're not stupid, are you? Pick up your pencil._**

**_Then the dream strayed from the usual._**

* * *

**_I looked over at the next desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket. She was my age, with unruly black, punk-style hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy green eyes, and freckles across her nose._**

As Hera read on noted a good deal of people how Annabeth grew paler with each word while Jay had a frown on his face, those who knew him were sure that he was thinking about something.

"Annabeth, what is wrong?" Malcolm asked his sister, but did not receive an answer when suddenly Hera gasped.

"I think I know what is wrong." she said and continued reading the two remaining sentences of the paragraph.

**_Somehow, I knew who she was. She was Thalia, daughter of Zeus._**

"What!" many gasped in shock while Jay bowed his head, he could hardly remember his sister, only fragments due to both of them having been little so hearing about her...

"Ho…how is that possible, beside the eye colour he got Thalia's looks perfectly right." Annabeth finally gasped as she turned around to look at the legacies. "How did he…" she was about to ask.

"Know how she looked?" Sally asked her mother with a small smile, Annabeth nodded her head, behind her the gods still looked shocked. "Dad, you could say possesses a special bond to his cousins from his uncle's side, no matter if he saw them or not, we still don't know how that is possible, he just has this bond with them." she told them, her dad had tried figuring out seeing that first he had demigod dreams with their aunt Thalia and then later uncle Nico, he was still looking for an explanation.

"This is really something peculiar." Odysseus said in a stunned tone, he had never heard about something like that and by the looks on the faces of the others was it sure that they hadn't either.

"As said, we don't have an answer for that." Luke said before looking at Hera who continued with reading.

**_She struggled against the straitjacket, glared at me in frustration, and snapped, _****_Well, Seaweed Brain? One of us has to get out of here._**

Annabeth felt as if someone would have purred icy water over her, that girl even sounded like Thalia would, she did not know how this was possible, but decided to not dwell on it anymore.

**_She's right, my dream-self thought. I'm going back to that cavern. I'm going to give Hades a piece of my mind._**

"Percy" Theseus whined as Orpheus groaned.

"Son, the please think about a throne room if you want to talk with your uncle and not the place we keep your grandfather." Poseidon groaned while the others tensed.

**_The straitjacket melted off me. I fell through the class room floor. The teacher's voice changed until it was cold and evil, echoing from the depths of a great chasm._**

Everyone shuddered or looked worried about Percy being at the entrance of Tartaros again.

**_Percy Jackson, _****_it said. _****_Yes, the exchange went well, I see._**

"Exchange?" Athena mumbled to herself with narrowed eyes, the others were also frowning.

**_I was back in the dark cavern, spirits of the dead drifting around me. Unseen in the pit, the monstrous thing was speaking, but this time it wasn't addressing me. The numbing power of its voice seemed directed somewhere else._**

The frowns deepened, some even looked nervous at this.

**_And he suspects nothing? _****_it asked._**

**_Another voice, one I almost recognized, answered at my shoulder. _****_Nothing, he is as ignorant as the rest._**

"This should prove it that Percy was not the thief." Persephone spoke up while looking over her family. "Though it sadly also proves that the one who did is working for grandfather" she finished in a bitter tone while Malcolm and Mitchell bit back groans.

"Looks as if those two have figured it out." Mich whispered to the other legacies as Luke glared at his lap.

**_I looked over, but no one was there. The speaker was invisible._**

There were some groans at this, it would be good to know the thief's identity in their option, but no such luck.

**_Deception upon deception, _****_the thing in the pit mused aloud. _****_Excellent._**

"It is not!" everyone snapped in anger.

**_Truly, my lord, _****_said the voice next to me, _****_you are well-named the Crooked One._**

"This confirms it then, it is truly _him._" Hera said in a dark tone, that was their father's nickname, the one on which he was often called no one else had been ever called that.

"Just wonderful." Poseidon grumbled, the fact that his son would live was only in a small part cheerful because he knew how terrible their father could be and he feared what he had done before being defeated, the demigods meanwhile exchanged nervous glances with each other, they will be fighting the Lord of Titans and who know what kind of army serving him.

**_But was it really necessary? I could have brought you what I stole directly_**_—_

There were many growls all around the interior and exterior of the palace, it they should ever find out who was trying to help that monster raise from his prison and endanger the others so carelessly…

**_You? _****_the monster said in scorn. _****_You have already shown your limits. You would have failed me completely had I not intervened._**

"Failing sounds really nice." Apollo hissed.

**_But, my lord_**—

**_Peace, little servant. Our six months have bought us much._**

"Six months!" everyone chorused in shock.

"That person is serving that monster since six months!" Demeter gasped, she thought that anyone with a brain would notice it in such a long duration of time that he was not someone you want to serve.

"Hera continue, maybe there is a chance that we get a hint about who this servant is." Zeus told his wife, when he finds out who had started conspirating with his father and taken his Master Bolt would personally feel it on their skin.

**_Zeus's anger has grown. Poseidon has played his most desperate card._**

Cue more growls and threats.

**_Now we shall use it against him. Shortly you shall have the reward you wish, and your revenge. As soon as both items_**

"Both items?" Artemis asked in confusion while by the legacies both En's and Henry's faces darkened.

Persephone heard her and looked thoughtful when she remembered what Alecto and her sisters had said when they had attacked Percy and his friends, she tensed at the conclusion which had occurred to her. If she should be proven right will someone find themselves in a world of pain after she finds out their identity.

**_are delivered into my hands ... but wait. He is here._**

"Not good." Katie said nervously as Theseus let out a whimpering sound while Poseidon mumbled threats under his breath.

"Please let Grover or me wake him." Annabeth mumbled to no one in practicular, she only wanted Percy out from there as fast as it was possible.

**_What? _****_The invisible servant suddenly sounded tense. _****_You summoned him, my lord?_**

Poseidon looked ready to march into his brother's realm and send a blast with his trident down into Tartaros, preferably right into his father's face.

**_No. _**_**The full force of the monsters attention was now pouring over me, freezing me in place. ****Blast his father's blood**—_

"Well, seeing how I was not born due to parthenogenesis means that you have yourself to blame for my existence." Poseidon said with a dark grin on his lips.

**_he is too changeable, too unpredictable._**

"Like the sea." Silena whispered to the others, but one could hear that she was worried just like all of them, even those who knew that this had happened years ago.

**_The boy brought himself hither._**

Cue groans.

"I would appreciate if he would stay out of the cave holding the entrance to Tartaros, mostly from Tartaros." Hades said while massaging his forehead so he missed the flinch flashing over the faces of the legacies who knew that sadly will that not be the case.

**_Impossible! _****_the servant cried._**

Luke had a sardonic smirk on his lips, but he covered it hurriedly.

**_For a weakling such as you, perhaps, _****_the voice snarled. _**

"He is such and encouraging person." Hermes said while those who knew the identity of the servant tried not looking in his direction.

**_Then its cold power turned back on me. _****_So ... you wish to dream of your quest, young half-blood? Then I will oblige._**

**_The scene changed._**

**_I was standing in a vast throne room with black marble walls and bronze floors. _**

"Thank you father for implying me." Hades said sarcastically while Zeus noticed how Enysswe was looking at him with a look he could not read, but he did not like it.

**_The empty, horrid throne_**

"It is not horrid!" snapped Hades, Persephone, Henry, Enysswe and outside the three siblings from the Underworld.

**_was made from human bones fused together._**

Everyone slowly turned to the four with raised eyebrows.

"There is nothing wrong with it." Hades said while looking at his siblings when Poseidon sighed.

"I probably should not comment seeing how my throne back in Atlantis is made out of fused together corals and pearls as decoration." he said while looking at his brother who had a faint smile on his lips which made Poseidon happy.

"Also it fits well with the throne room." Hera said with a nod and started reading before someone makes the wrong comment while Will tried to come to terms with the new information's he just got.

**_Standing at the foot of the dais was my mother, frozen in shimmering golden light, her arms outstretched._**

"I'm starting to hate grandfather even more." Apollo growled as he placed his hand on Artemis's who looked ready to pull out her dagger.

"It will get worse." Lance mumbled, _'Till now you don't know about the children you will loose thanks to him, with two of them being in this room.'_ he thought bitterly.

**_I tried to step toward her, but my legs wouldn't move. I reached for her, only to realize that my hands were withering to bones. Grinning skeletons in Greek armor crowded around me, draping me with silk robes, wreathing my head with laurels that smoked with Chimera poison, burning into my scalp._**

**_The evil voice began to laugh. _****_Hail, the conquering hero!_**

No one liked this one bit, it disturbed them and made them feel sick in the stomach. Somehow they had a guess that Kronos was planning to use Percy for his own advantages, but they were not sure to which extent he will be going to set his hands on the young demigod.

**_I woke with a start._**

Many sighed in relief, at least was he now awake.

**_Grover was shaking my shoulder. "The truck's stopped," he said. "We think they're coming to check on the animals."_**

**_"Hide!" Annabeth hissed._**

**_She had it easy. She just put on her magic cap and disappeared._**

Annabeth blushed by the smirks she got from the others, but it was easy to tell that they were partly forced due to what they had read a few sentences above this comment. Things sounded really not good and they knew that after this book the titles and probably the stories behind them will only get worse before they become good for a short little time and then go bad again seeing that there will be two wars they will need to go through.

**_Grover and I had to dive behind feed sacks and hope we looked like turnips._**

**_The trailer doors creaked open. Sunlight and heat poured in._**

**_"Man!" one of the truckers said, waving his hand in front of his ugly nose. "I wish I hauled appliances." He climbed inside and poured some water from a jug into the animals' dishes._**

**_"You hot, big boy?" he asked the lion, then splashed the rest of the bucket right in the lion's face._**

**Cue more growls while Artemis was muttering something about ****_men_**** which made Apollo nod with a dark grin on his lips. **

**_The lion roared in indignation._**

**_"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the man said._**

Pan also started muttering about things which made his father smile in pride at this son's creativity.

**_Next to me, under the turnip sacks, Grover tensed. For a peace-loving herbivore, he looked downright murderous._**

"Perfectly understandable." come the sounds of agreement.

**_The trucker threw the antelope a squashed-looking Happy Meal bag. He smirked at the zebra. "How ya doin', Stripes? Least we'll be getting rid of _****_you _****_this stop. You like magic shows? You're gonna love this one. They're gonna saw you in half!"_**

"What magic show is that? Hecate certainly does not do such things." Artemis snapped in outrage while outside said goddess looked also both angry and perplexed.

"Something mortals come up with, but those are only tricks and no real magic." Sally said frowning as she added. "That was a cruel thing to say seeing that some of those trick look more then real to those not part of the trade." the others nodded still frowning.

**_The zebra, wild-eyed with fear, looked straight at me._**

**_There was no sound, but as clear as day, I heard it say: _****_Free me, lord. Please._**

"Uh…did someone inform him that he can talk with both sea creatures and horses?" Poseidon asked the legacies.

"Not exactly." Luke told his grandfather who nodded reluctantly before he turned to Chiron.

"When he gets to camp, please do so in time so that he does not think that he went mad." he told his half-brother.

"I will do so Lord Poseidon." Chiron reassured the Sea God, so now he had another thing he forgot to teach to Percy, the list was growing rather steadily.

**_I was too stunned to react._**

**_There was a loud _****_knock, knock, knock _****_on the side of the trailer._**

**_The trucker inside with us yelled, "What do you want, Eddie?"_**

**_A voice outside—it must've been Eddie's—shouted back, "Maurice? What'd ya say?"_**

**_"What are you banging for?"_**

**_Knock, knock, knock._**

**_Outside, Eddie yelled, "What banging?"_**

Everyone who did not know what was going on looked confused at this.

"You guys are doing something." Lee said, it would make sense. "The title was _'We take a zebra to Vegas'_ the first stop is in Vegas so this means that you will do something." he explained while the others nodded, now they understood what he was talking about.

**_Our guy Maurice rolled his eyes and went back outside, cursing at Eddie for being an idiot._**

"It takes one to know the other." Reyna said as the others grinned at her comment.

**_A second later, Annabeth appeared next to me. She must've done the banging to get Maurice out of the trailer. She said, "This transport business can't be legal."_**

**_"No kidding," Grover said. He paused, as if listening. "The lion says these guys are animal smugglers!"_**

This caused even more sounds of outrage from everyone, mostly the nature bound divinities and it took a few minutes for everyone to calm down so that they could continue reading again, but at least was this book over in six more chapters after this so that meant that there was a chance to start the second book before the day gets over.

**_That's right, _****_the zebra's voice said in my mind._**

**_"We've got to free them!" Grover said. He and Annabeth both looked at me, waiting for my lead._**

**_I'd heard the zebra talk, but not the lion. Why? Maybe it was another learning disability ... I could only under stand zebras? _**

Even though they were still angry there were a few snorts at this.

"Yes, understanding zebras is a learning disability." Connor snickered.

"Well and your learning disability includes tortoises, rams and hawks." Hermes told his sons grinning as they looked at him with wide eyes.

"Cool." they said in union while the others looked curiously at their own parents.

"In my case are it the owls and to a small degree also snakes." Athena told her children who nodded, they had already known about the owls, but not about the snakes.

"In my case are it also the snakes and pigs." Demeter told Katie who nodded her head while hitting the Stolls over the head for snickering at the last animal.

"My sacred animals are the dove as you know and also the sparrow so you should be able to understand and talk to them." Aphrodite told her children.

"Enyo's sacred animal is the swan." Artemis informed Reyna who nodded her head in thanks, she had always wondered why she had liked those birds when she had been little, now she knew the ground.

"Mine are vultures, venomous snakes, dogs, and boars." Ares said with a shrug.

"In my case you can talk to donkeys, guard dogs and the cranes." Hephaestus told his children who with the others noted that both him and Ares share one type of sacred animal and more gods had also snakes in their lists, but didn't interrupt.

"Eagle and bull." Zeus told his sons whom nodded, ignoring the sound Theseus let out, they guessed that he had just developed a phobia regards bulls.

"Mine are dolphins" the legacies tried not to snicker as they suddenly remembered that some dolphins have a deadly fear from diet coke "serpents, tigers, and donkeys." Finished Dionysus with his list and looked over at Apollo.

"In my case you kids can talk to roe deers, swans, cicadas, hawks, ravens, crows, foxes, mice, and snakes." Apollo told his children.

"Brother you should also tell them your sacred animal." Hestia informed Hades who nodded his head seeing how he had two of his grandchildren present.

"My sacred animal is the screech owl." he said before turning over to Amphitrite who let out an amused sound.

"What is it dear?" Poseidon asked his wife.

"Not much, I only now noticed how much you all seem to have in common if one looks at your sacred animals, you share a good number of them." she informed her husband, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews who looked back at her blinking, their cheeks painted red.

"Well noted." Hera said in amusement, she was certainly seeing some more family like bindings here due to the books and was not sure that they could manage if they continue.

**_Then I thought: horses._**

"Seems he figured it out." Orion said to Bellerophon who nodded his head, it was an useful ability to have.

**_What had Annabeth said about Poseidon creating horses? Was a zebra close enough to a horse?_**

"Seems like it." Chris said.

**_Was that why I could understand it?_**

**_The zebra said, _****_Open my cage, lord. Please. I'll be fine after that._**

**_Outside, Eddie and Maurice were still yelling at each other, but I knew they'd be coming inside to torment the animals again any minute. I grabbed Riptide and slashed the lock off the zebra's cage._**

**_The zebra burst out. It turned to me and bowed. _****_Thank you, lord._**

**_Grover held up his hands and said something to the zebra in goat talk, like a blessing._**

Pan nodded his head in approval.

**_Just as Maurice was poking his head back inside to check out the noise, the zebra leaped over him and into the street. There was yelling and screaming and cars honking. We rushed to the doors of the trailer in time to see the zebra galloping down a wide boulevard lined with hotels and casinos and neon signs. We'd just released a zebra in Las Vegas._**

"And here is the title." Trickster said grinning as he imagined the scene.

**_Maurice and Eddie ran after it, with a few policemen running after them, shouting, "Hey! You need a permit for that!"_**

**_"Now would be a good time to leave," Annabeth said._**

**_"The other animals first," Grover said._**

**_I cut the locks with my sword. Grover raised his hands and spoke the same goat-blessing he'd used for the zebra._**

**_"Good luck," I told the animals. _**

"Good, they are free now." Pan said, animals should never be locked in and held under such deplorable conditions.

**_The antelope and the lion burst out of their cages and went off together into the streets._**

**_Some tourists screamed. Most just backed off and took pictures, probably thinking it was some kind of stunt by one of the casinos._**

There was a number of shaking heads at the last coment, but it didn't matter as long as no one gets hurt.

**_"Will the animals be okay?" I asked Grover. "I mean, the desert and all—"_**

**_"Don't worry," he said. "I placed a satyr's sanctuary on them."_**

"Excellent." Pan said proudly, that had been a more then good idea from the young satyr.

**_"Meaning?"_**

**_"Meaning they'll reach the wild safely," he said. "They'll find water, food, shade, whatever they need until they find a safe place to live."_**

"That is really good." Gwen said in a relieved tone, she loved animals.

**_"Why can't you place a blessing like that on us?" I asked._**

**_"It only works on wild animals."_**

By the next line could Hara not help herself, but allow a small smile of amusement to come to her lips, she valued good marriages and this one had really an interesting and long start.

**_"So it would only affect Percy," Annabeth reasoned._**

This made a good number of people laugh in amusement at Annabeth's comment.

**_"Hey!" I protested._**

**_"Kidding," she said. "Come on. Let's get out of this filthy truck."_**

**_We stumbled out into the desert afternoon. It was a hundred and ten degrees, easy, and we must've looked like deep-fried vagrants, but everybody was too interested in the wild animals to pay us much attention._**

"Which is certainly good at this point." Travis said while Henry braced himself to keep his cousin calm, the Lotus would come up soon.

**_We passed the Monte Carlo and the MGM. We passed pyramids, a pirate ship, and the Statue of Liberty, which was a pretty small replica, but still made me homesick. I wasn't sure what we were looking for. Maybe just a place to get out of the heat for a few minutes, find a sandwich and a glass of lemonade, make a new plan for getting west._**

**_We must have taken a wrong turn, because we found ourselves at a dead end, standing in front of the Lotus Hotel and Casino._**

A deep growl made everyone turn into Enysswe's direction and Henry placed his hands on her shoulders while Odysseus frowned at the mentioning of the lotus.

"What is wrong?" Hades asked his granddaughter worriedly.

"The third book will explain." Sally told him while the god frowned, was there not a mentioning that his son was in the books from that one on?

**_The entrance was a huge neon flower, the petals lighting up and blinking. No one was going in or out, but the glittering chrome doors were open, spilling out air-conditioning that smelled like flowers—lotus blossom, maybe. I'd never smelled one, so I wasn't sure._**

"I hate that damned place." Enysswe muttered, unfortunately was she informed that no one was allowed to demolish it, the building would only reform itself.

"I don't have a good feeling about that place." Lee pointed out, he did not know why thought.

"Good." En told her uncle.

**_The doorman smiled at us. "Hey, kids. You look tired. You want to come in and sit down?"_**

Many narrowed their eyes at this.

"There are laws against minors entering casinos and considering how you three looked." Reyna said with a frown on her face. "Something is wrong there."

"Great, new trouble and from the way Enysswe is looking it will not be fun." Michael said when Luke let out a bitter laugh, he had hated hearing how his parents and uncle almost ended up like his uncle Nico and aunt Bianca whom he had never met.

"No, this would have been fun, a never-ending fun." he said while the others looked nervous.

**_I'd learned to be suspicious, the last week or so. I figured anybody might be a monster or a god. You just couldn't tell. But this guy was normal. One look at him, and I could see. Besides, I was so relieved to hear somebody who sounded sympathetic that I nodded and said we'd love to come in._**

Cue groans.

**_Inside, we took one look around, and Grover said, "Whoa."_**

**_The whole lobby was a giant game room. And I'm not talking about cheesy old Pac-Man games _**

The sons of Dionysus looked at their dad who looked undecided if he should react or not seeing that he had never played that game before due for it not being invented in their time.

**_or slot machines. There was an indoor waterslide snaking around the glass elevator, which went straight up at least forty floors. There was a climbing wall on the side of one building, and an indoor bungee-jumping bridge. There were virtual-reality suits with working laser guns. And hundreds of video games, each one the size of a widescreen TV. Basically, you name it, this place had it_****_. _****_There were a few other kids playing, but not that many. No waiting for any of the games. There were waitresses and snack bars all around, serving every kind of food you can imagine._**

"Don't let yourselves be fooled by those things." Sally said when she noted that some of the demigods were in danger to start drooling, which would be gross in the current company.

**_"Hey!" a bellhop said. At least I guessed he was a bellhop. He wore a white-and-yellow Hawaiian shirt with lotus designs, shorts, and flip-flops. "Welcome to the Lotus Casino. Here's your room key."_**

"I may not know the laws in the future, but this sounds highly suspicious." Persephone said while some of the others also started frowning, something was not right with that place.

**_I stammered, "Um, but..."_**

**_"No, no," he said, laughing. "The bill's taken care of._**

"I also don't like this, are they monsters?" Clarisse asked the legacies who shook their heads.

"Not exactly, but they are part of our world and have adapted themselves according to the changed times." Ace told his mother while Odysseus tried to figure out what this sentence could mean, he was sure that he should know this place, but was not sure why.

**_No extra charges, no tips. Just go on up to the top floor, room 4001. If you need anything, like extra bubbles for the hot tub, or skeet targets for the shooting range, or what ever, just call the front desk. Here are your LotusCash cards. They work in the restaurants and on all the games and rides."_**

**_He handed us each a green plastic credit card._**

"Brilliant." replied all children of Hermes/Mercury and some of the other demigods also looked interested as did Bobby and Mathew.

"Not brilliant idiots, it sounds too good which should tip you up that something is wrong." Clarisse snapped at them.

**_I knew there must be some mistake. Obviously he thought we were some millionaire's kids. But I took the card and said, "How much is on here?"_**

**_His eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean?"_**

**_"I mean, when does it run out of cash?"_**

**_He laughed. "Oh, you're making a joke. _**

"En?" Nathan whispered to the girl.

"Dad still has his as well as aunt Bianca's and yes, they are unlimited and work also in the mortal world, not that dad actually needs it because granddad takes care about all of his expenses or lets his use his fortunes." she whispered back before looking at him sternly. "Dare going there and I will make sure that your parents will never have grandchildren if you don't get a sibling in the upcoming years." she threatened while Nathan glumped.

**_Hey, that's cool. Enjoy your stay."_**

**_We took the elevator upstairs and checked out our room. It was a suite with three separate bedrooms and a bar stocked with candy, sodas, and chips. A hotline to room service. Fluffy towels and water beds with feather pillows. A big-screen television with satellite and high-speed Internet. The balcony had its own hot tub, _**

The dreamy looks started returning to some of the demigods while others looked even more suspicious or were stuck between the two feelings.

**_and sure enough, there was a skeet-shooting machine and a shotgun, so you could launch clay pigeons right out over the Las Vegas skyline and plug them with your gun. I didn't see how that could be legal, but I thought it was pretty cool. The view over the Strip and the desert was amazing, though I doubted we'd ever find time to look at the view with a room like this._**

**_"Oh, goodness," Annabeth said. "This place is ..."_**

**_"Sweet," Grover said. "Absolutely sweet."_**

En shook her head vehemently while being watched by her grandfather who was thinking about why she may be reacting like this.

**_There were clothes in the closet, and they fit me. I frowned, thinking that this was a little strange._**

"This is more then a little strange." Triton noted.

"Yup, that is not Brooklyn House." Misty said darkly while the others turned to her.

"Brooklyn House?" Malcolm asked in confusion.

"Well, you were told that there were other gods and some closer then you think, well if you look at history there was another place where the fire of the Western Civilization burned brightly and that flame attracted the one bound to the Greek gods and united them as well as later the Romans, after that they moved together and now are in America, a part of them in Brooklyn hence the name." Sally said while waiting as she watched the demigods racking their brains which gods and land could be meant, it took five minutes till Lee gasped.

"Uh…you mean the Egyptians?" he asked unsurely, but this was the only place he could remember which could fit, well beside Babylon and Persia that is.

"Correct." Misty said while beside Hades most of the other gods looked confused.

"Really, the Egyptian gods are in Brooklyn?" gasped a shocked Annabeth, but she did not get to start talking about their architecture.

"Yep, well Brooklyn House is actually called the Twenty-First Nome seeing how they have such Nomes all-around the world with Egypt their Ancient Land being the First, you will know about them more though I think you would like to know that you were the one who had designed their camp in Memphis." Sally told her mother before she turned to the others. "We should continue now with the reading, the case with you all meeting up with the Egyptians can at the moment wait for a little while." the others nodded reluctantly at her words.

"You look not surprised uncle by these new at all uncle." Artemis whispered to Hades, not that she needed seeing that no one paid them attention.

"I know most deities of the other Underworlds and have at least a tolerance relationship with them." he told her with a shrug, there was nothing bad in doing so seeing that it helped exchanging experiences and if one had already done a case with which another had trouble to decide how to proceed it, then these experience exchanges could be helpful.

"That does sound beneficial, could you please ask your acquaintances if it would be possible for me to meet some of the deities bound to my properties?" Artemis asked curiously.

"I will try." Hades replied while masking his surprise at the request of his niece, they rarely asked him for favours.

**_I threw Ares's backpack in the trash can. Wouldn't need that anymore._**

The legacies carefully averted their gazes.

**_When we left, I could just charge a new one at the hotel store._**

**_I took a shower, which felt awesome after a week of grimy travel. I changed clothes, ate a bag of chips, drank three Cokes, and came out feeling better than I had in a long time. In the back of my mind, some small problem kept nagging me. I'd had a dream or something ... I needed to talk to my friends. But I was sure it could wait._**

"No, listen to that voice." Henry said which again made people shift in their seats or to look thoughtful.

**_I came out of the bedroom and found that Annabeth and Grover had also showered and changed clothes. Grover was eating potato chips to his heart's content, while Annabeth cranked up the National Geographic Channel._**

"Really Annabeth," Travis shook his head. "All the fun stuff to do and eat and your watching that." said girl only huffed, she liked that channel.

**_"All those stations," I told her, "and you turn on National Geographic. Are you insane?"_**

Cue nods from a few demigods, namely the Stolls and Trickster before they were hit over the head, the others who wanted to agree thought better of it.

**_"It's interesting."_**

**_"I feel good," Grover said. "I love this place."_**

**_Without his even realizing it, the wings sprouted out of his shoes and lifted him a foot off the ground, then back down again._**

"That is not normal for them." Hermes said frowning, something was not right, it was also this statement which got each demigod to accept that the hotel was a bad thing.

**_"So what now?" Annabeth asked. "Sleep?"_**

**_Grover and I looked at each other and grinned. We both held up our green plastic LotusCash cards._**

**_"Play time," I said._**

**_I couldn't remember the last time I had so much fun. I came from a relatively poor family. Our idea of a splurge was eating out at Burger King and renting a video._**

"Aunt Rachel could have killed to have such vacations." Luke pointed out, such small vacations were not bad because you spent them with the ones you love and not go to a place where everyone goes to do what they want.

"The girl who will appear first in the third book?" Jake asked Luke who nodded.

**_A five-star Vegas hotel? Forget it._**

**_I bungee-jumped the lobby five or six times, did the waterslide, snowboarded the artificial ski slope, and played virtual-reality laser tag and FBI sharpshooter. I saw Grover a few times, going from game to game. He really liked the reverse hunter thing—where the deer go out and shoot the rednecks. _**

Those who knew Grover only shook their heads at this, but they were starting to get worried, this distraction seemed somehow unnatural.

**_I saw Annabeth playing trivia games and other brainiac stuff. They had this huge 3-D Sim game where you build your own city, and you could actually see the holographic buildings rise on the display board. I didn't think much of it, but Annabeth loved it._**

Annabeth blushed, she certainly would.

"Granddad Poseidon has one in his game room." Sally told her mother.

**_I'm not sure when I first realized something was wrong._**

"As long as you realize it and act in time is it not important when you did." Athena said nervously, she was trying to figure out what that place was, but she just could not come up with an answer no matter how familiar some aspects sounded.

**_Probably, it was when I noticed the guy standing next to me at VR sharpshooters. He was about thirteen, I guess, but his clothes were weird. I thought he was some Elvis impersonator's son. He wore bell-bottom jeans and a red T-shirt with black piping, and his hair was permed and gelled like a New Jersey girl's on homecoming night._**

"That does sound strange, that look is out of fashion since decades." Silena pointed out frowning.

**_We played a game of sharpshooters together and he said, "Groovy, man. Been here two weeks, and the games keep getting better and better."_**

**_Groovy?_**

"As did that word." Mitchell added in blinking.

**_Later, while we were talking, I said something was "sick," and he looked at me kind of startled, as if he'd never heard the word used that way before._**

"Erm…it got another meaning in your time?" asked Apollo while outside the gods responsible for health looked bewildered at the palace.

"Yes, it also means 'brilliant' now." Michael told his father who nodded, he did not know how people come to give that word such an additional meaning seeing how no one liked being sick as far as he knew.

**_He said his name was Darrin, but as soon as I started asking him questions he got bored with me and started to go back to the computer screen._**

**_I said, "Hey, Darrin?"_**

**_"What?"_**

**_"What year is it?"_**

**_He frowned at me. "In the game?"_**

**_"No. In real life."_**

**_He had to think about it. "1977."_**

"WHAT!" the demigods yelled in shock from which the gods guessed that this was not the correct year in which Percy and Annabeth were twelve.

**_"No," I said, getting a little scared. "Really."_**

**_"Hey, man. Bad vibes. I got a game happening."_**

**_After that he totally ignored me._**

**_I started talking to people, and I found it wasn't easy. They were glued to the TV screen, or the video game, or their food, or whatever. I found a guy who told me it was 1985. Another guy told me it was 1993. They all claimed they hadn't been in here very long, a few days, a few weeks at most. They didn't really know and they didn't care._**

"This is starting to sound really messed up." Travis noted when suddenly by the heroes of old Odysseus gasped, he finally got it and turned immediately to the legacies.

"This is what had become form the Lotus-eaters am I right?" he asked them.

"Yes, sadly they went with the time, now they lure their victims in with games and all different luxurious things, when they are inside their sense of reality slips as well as the time passing over them." Sally explained at which Hades also turned to his grandchildren.

"Is this where Nico is?" he asked while everyone turned to him.

"What do you mean brother?" Poseidon asked.

"We were told that I had no more demigod children since eighty years in their time, but it was also mentioned that Nico was only ten when he met Percy and if each book takes place in the summer then Percy would be by the time he meets Nico thirteen. There is only one way how I could not have had anymore demigod children, but there still being one who is still younger then his two cousins, meaning that he was placed somewhere where time does not flow or flows much slower then normal." Hades explained his suspicions to the rest of his family.

"Yes, dad was placed for his own safety into the casino and later taken out from there, the ground for that will be fully explained in the fifth book." Enysswe said while looking at her grandfather who nodded his head and turned to his sister.

"Hera, please continue." he told her while the others exchanged glances with each other, they did not know why Hades needed to hide one of his children in such a place and it seemed that they will have a long wait in front of them till they will find out.

**_Then it occurred to me: how long had I been here? It seemed like only a couple of hours, but was it?_**

"This is not good at all." Katie said nervously, the others shared her option, that place had lost all of its appeal to them.

**_I tried to remember why we were here. We were going to Los Angeles. We were supposed to find the entrance to the Underworld. My mother ... for a scary second, I had trouble remembering her name. _**

"Now is it even more clearer, these are the Lotus-eaters, hopefully are you two not to deep under their magic and can get out, when we had encountered them those of my men who tasted the fruit of the Lotus Tree needed to be tied up and then we dragged them away, the spell had broken when we were farther away from the tree." Odysseus told everyone and Annabeth hoped that she had also realized this and they will leave soon.

**_Sally. Sally Jackson. I had to find her. I had to stop Hades from causing World War III._**

"Well, beside the name of the culprit you got everything alright uncle Percy." Nathan said carefully while both Enysswe and Henry let out a small hiss.

**_I found Annabeth still building her city._**

**_"Come on," I told her. "We've got to get out of here."_**

**_No response._**

**_I shook her. "Annabeth?"_**

**_She looked up, annoyed. "What?''_**

**_"We need to leave."_**

"Yes, please do daughter." Athena pleaded, the last thing she wanted was her daughter trapped in that place.

**_"Leave? What are you talking about? I've just got the towers—"_**

"Not good, you are under the hotel's spell." Frank said nervously, he was really starting to believe his gran that casinos _are _dangerous places for a demigod to be at.

**_"This place is a trap."_**

**_She didn't respond until I shook her again. "What?"_**

**_"Listen. The Underworld. Our quest!"_**

**_"Oh, come on, Percy. Just a few more minutes."_**

"I would have never thought that I would be this thankful for your unpredictableness." Athena breathed, it seemed that the nature of he sea made it herder for the spell to work, it is a directly stimulating a luring spell unlike the enchantments used by some monsters, that remind her that she will go out after this book and find Medusa and turn her into something less harmful, maybe a turnip?

"I will take that as a compliment, but only after the children are out of there." Poseidon told his niece, also glad that Percy was able to fight the spell.

**_"Annabeth, there are people here from 1977. Kids who have never aged. You check in, and you stay forever."_**

**_"So?" she asked. "Can you imagine a better place?"_**

"Ugh…Percy please get me out of there." Annabeth groaned while burying her face in her hands.

"And don't forget Grover if you are already by picking op people co get out." Pan reminded even thought he was talking to a book about things which had not happened till now in their time while by the legacies they did.

**_I grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from the game._**

**_"Hey!" She screamed and hit me, but nobody else even bothered looking at us. They were too busy._**

"This seems to be also a patter when you are under an enchantment." Luke said thoughtfully.

"What!" Annabeth asked worriedly.

"Second book, your fatal flaw kind of gives you some trouble." Luke told his mother who looked just as nervous as the others at hearing this.

**_I made her look directly in my eyes. I said, "Spiders. Large, hairy spiders."_**

"In any other situation I would be angry because of this, but now I'm glad that he will do that." Annabeth said slightly shaking as she tried to not imagine a spider.

**_That jarred her. Her vision cleared. "Oh my gods," she said. "How long have we—"_**

There were a number of relieved sighs at this, now they only needed to get Grover and then get the Hades out of there.

**_"I don't know, but we've got to find Grover."_**

**_We went searching, and found him still playing Virtual Deer Hunter._**

**_"Grover!" we both shouted._**

**_He said, "Die, human! Die, silly polluting nasty person!"_**

"Erm…the game kind of got to him." Lance said while the others stared in bewilderment at the book.

"You don't say." Chris said carefully.

**_"Grover!"_**

**_He turned the plastic gun on me and started clicking, as if I were just another image from the screen._**

"The enchantment is worse on some mythical creatures, I think mostly only the gods are fine in there." Misty said carefully.

**_I looked at Annabeth, and together we took Grover by the arms and dragged him away. His flying shoes sprang to life and started tugging his legs in the other direction as he shouted, "No! I just got to a new level! No!"_**

**_The Lotus bellhop hurried up to us. "Well, now, are you ready for your platinum cards?"_**

"En?"

"Stop asking me about the damned cards Grace." Enysswe whispered back with a hiss.

**_"We're leaving," I told him._**

**_"Such a shame," he said, and I got the feeling that he really meant it, that we'd be breaking his heart if we went. "We just added an entire new floor full of games for platinum-card members."_**

**_He held out the cards, and I wanted one. I knew that if I took one, I'd never leave._**

Everyone nodded nervously.

**_I'd stay here, happy forever, playing games forever, and soon I'd forget my mom, and my quest, and maybe even my own name. I'd be playing virtual rifleman with groovy Disco Darrin forever._**

"Please just get out of there." Gwen pleaded, she knew that they would get out, but she did not know when.

**_Grover reached for the card, but Annabeth yanked back his arm and said, "No, thanks."_**

**_We walked toward the door, and as we did, the smell of the food and the sounds of the games seemed to get more and more inviting. _**

"You need to fight it." Lupa said, if they don't do it then it would be over.

**_I thought about our room upstairs. We could just stay the night, sleep in a real bed for once..._**

**_Then we burst through the doors of the Lotus Casino and ran down the sidewalk. It felt like afternoon, about the same time of day we'd gone into the casino, but something was wrong. The weather had completely changed. It was stormy, with heat lightning flashing out in the desert._**

"I rally don't like the sound of this and going with uncle Hades's theory from not long ago…" Apollo didn't even need to finish, the others knew what he meant, while inside time stands still it does not in the outside world.

**_Ares's backpack was slung over my shoulder, which was odd, because I was sure I had thrown it in the trash can in room 4001,_**

The frowns returned and Ares shifted on his throne, he had a strange unwelcome feeling in the pit of his stomach.

**_but at the moment I had other problems to worry about._**

"True, you need to find out the date." Athena said when Hera spoke up.

"The weather is no wonder." she said before continuing with the last lines of the chapter.

**_I ran to the nearest newspaper stand and read the year first. Thank the gods, it was the same year it had been when we went in. Then I noticed the date: June twentieth._**

**_We had been in the Lotus Casino for five days._**

Everyone groaned at this, this was really bad.

**_We had only one day left until the summer solstice. One day to complete our quest._**

"Ugh…that will be more then stressful and close." Trickster said while Hera handed the book over to Demeter.

_To be continued…_


	17. Has someone valium?

A/N: seeing how now there are not that many chapters left from the first book I decided to concentrate on this fic till that is done and after that I will do the new chapters for the other two reading fics.

* * *

XVII. Has someone valium?

After being handed the book by her sister looked the Goddess of Harvest down at the next chapter title and blinked by what stood there seeing how she really did not understand it, mostly the last sentence.

"The next title is kind of confusing" she told the others before reading "**_We Shop For Water Beds?_****_"_** she read, but before she had the chance to ask were the demigods of the future busy turning with unbelieving eyes to a perplexed looking Annabeth, they kind of forgot that she had till now not done this.

"World Wart III is one day away and you guys are looking at waterbeds?" asked a gapping Beckendorf.

"Even if it would be the newest style clothes, this is not exactly the time." Silena said with a shake of her head, and this coming from an Aphrodite girl meant much.

"I don't know what we are doing." Annabeth defended while turning to the legacies. "What are we doing?" she asked them.

"You had a not planned shopping trip, combined visitation." Mich said with a shrug, in a way was it true.

"Uh…sorry, but what are water beds?" asked a confused Bellerophon.

"Easy, just what the name suggests a bed on which there is a quadrant like large pillow filled with water." Luke explained, his dad told him that he had insisted to get such a bed for their home in New Greece, but their mom was kind of against the idea. Something along the lines of not risking that he floods the bedroom or something like that, though Luke got one and it was brilliant.

"Aha…" come it from those of the antique as Demeter turned back to the book.

**_It was Annabeth's idea._**

As everyone turned their gazes back to her Annabeth looked desperately at the goddess holding the book.

"Lady Demeter, please." the goddess nodded and continued.

**_She loaded us into the back of a Vegas taxi as if we actually had money, and told the driver, "Los Angeles, please."_**

"That will be quiet expensive." stated a gapping Malcolm as he did a quick counting in his head, well with your dad being a math professor and your mom the Goddess of Wisdom well one can get what his favourite subject is.

"That is an understatement." Lee said blinking.

"How did you manage that… well without making a run for it after your arrival that is." Travis asked is shock, that was the only option he saw seeing how neither of them had money on them.

"Card." was the only thing En said, as she had told Nathan her dad still had two of those, but rarely used them, they were like mementos of the past.

"Huh…how can those cards in the Lotus Casino help them?" Jay asked in confusion.

"You will hear." was the only reply he got which made everyone turn back to Demeter who after noticing the gazes hurried on reading before her eyes widened.

"I see what you meant." she said in a surprised tone and went on.

**_The cabbie chewed his cigar and sized us up. "That's three hundred miles. For that, you gotta pay up front."_**

"I really hope that those cards will work or they find another solution." Gwen said, this didn't look good.

**_"You accept casino debit cards?" Annabeth asked._**

Everyone held their breaths to see if it really worked.

**_He shrugged. "Some of 'em. Same as credit cards. I gotta swipe 'em through first."_**

**_Annabeth handed him her green LotusCash card._**

**_He looked at it skeptically._**

**_"Swipe it," Annabeth invited._**

**_He did._**

**_His meter machine started rattling. The lights flashed. Finally an infinity symbol came up next to the dollar sign._**

One could literally hear the sound of jaws hitting the floor or the cracking sound as the demigods whipped their heads around to stare at Enysswe.

"You have to be kidding us…" Chris said with wide eyes, his brothers could only nod their heads.

"That is not a joke, but as you heard obtaining them if you are not a divine being is dangerous." she said with a shrug while most of the kids turned to their parents who shifted uncomfortably on their thrones as they were assaulted by one of the world's most deadly powers… the sad-puppy look.

"Uh…well…erm…maybe if you well…king of ask our future selves…" Apollo said nervously while mentally cursing that he had four children here from which three were doing a brilliant job in making him uncomfortable.

"Ok." come it from the demigods as both Connor and Reyna wrote a reminding note while farther back both Chiron and Lupa had a hard time to restrain themselves to not laugh at the expressions the gods had on, the two of them needed to deal with that look enough so it was amusing seeing the parents facing it.

**_The cigar fell out of the driver's mouth. He looked back at us, his eyes wide._**

"We certainly understand you pal." Connor said in a feint tone, all those things they could do with even one card.

**_"Where to in Los Angeles... uh, Your Highness?"_**

Annabeth blushed, but luckily were the others still stunned to comment much.

**_"The Santa Monica Pier." Annabeth sat up a little straighter. I could tell she liked the "Your Highness" thing._**

"She certainly did." Luke said grinning as his bother blushed even deeper.

**_"Get us there fast, and you can keep the change."_**

**_Maybe she shouldn't have told him that. The cab's speedometer never dipped below ninety-five the whole way through the Mojave Desert._**

"I don't know what a speedometer is, but I know that this is my kind of speed driving." Ares said grinning gleefully.

"Hope that cab had seatbelts and you put them on." Lee told Annabeth, if anything would have appeared the cab would not manage to stop in time and they could not risk injuries.

"I'm hoping the same." Annabeth replied while in the background looked her father about to be sick as he imagined one accident scenario after the other.

**_On the road, we had plenty of time to talk. I told Annabeth and Grover about my latest dream, but the details got sketchier the more I tried to remember them. The Lotus Casino seemed to have short-circuited my memory._**

"It certainly does." En confirmed, this had been also the ground why it took so long for her dad to remember his past, beside the lingering effect of Lethe.

"Wonderful, that dream had valuable informations in it and he can't properly remember." Athena groaned and this time she could not even blame it on the Fist Brain's genes because of the facts regards the new form of the Lotus-eaters.

**_I couldn't recall what the invisible servant's voice had sounded like, though I was sure it was somebody I knew._**

Cue more groans and small curses though Mitchell and Malcolm were not sure if they should feel at least slightly relieved that Annabeth will not be faced with the betrayal while sitting in a cab which goes on full speed or to be worried if this delay had some unfortunate consequences.

**_The servant had called the monster in the pit something other than "my lord" ... some special name or title..._**

A large group of birds flew up in panic from the woods on Olymphos and even the mortals below raised their heads in worry for they were sure that they had heard many screams haling from the heavens above, prompting them to rush to the temples and small altars to give sacrifices to the gods.

"The most valuable of all informations and because of that damned place he forgot." Artemis shook her head, she felt tempted to find that damned tree in their time and send a few arrows at it, but sadly it would re-form.

"Meaning you still don't know who the real enemy is." Reyna said when she noticed the gods tense and exchange confused glances with each other.

"What is wrong father?" Perseus asked after having returned to his seat from beside his younger brother.

"It is noting, but…the mortals in whole Greece seemed to have started making sacrifices to all of us." replied a perplexed Zeus, this had never before happened that every single of their followers would do this and almost at the same time.

"I think your reaction may have given the mortals the impression that you were angry with them." Nathan said as he shook his head, those poor mortals.

"This may be it." Amphitrite said while looking at her husband and son.

"Lady Demeter please continue." Sally spoke up after a few seconds, eventually the mortals will calm down.

**_"The Silent One?" Annabeth suggested. "The Rich One? Both of those are nicknames for Hades."_**

Hades huffed on his throne, but did not argue that those were the names people used for him if they wanted to be respectful.

"We also use most of the time a kind of different version of the second nickname for Lord Hades." Reyna spoke up which earned her the attention of said god.

"What version?" he asked in interest.

"That would be '_Dis Pater'_ which means 'The Rich Father'." Henry elaborated for his grandfather who nodded his head.

"We can't argue on that one." Hermes whispered to Apollo seeing how their uncle was the lord over the wealth hidden under the earth.

**_"Maybe ..." I said, though neither sounded quite right._**

"Good." Persephone mumbled to herself, even if he could not remember there was still something there and he seemed to react to it.

**_"That throne room sounds like Hades's," Grover said. "That's the way it's usually described."_**

"You know, it is kind of funny how Lord Hades is the only one whom is in most descriptions associated with his throne room or at least his throne while neither of the other gods or only really rarely." Chris said, but flinched when there was a loud rumble of thunder.

"WHAT!" Zeus yelled in indignation which made everyone outside wonder what his problem was now. "I'm the King of Gods so why is it that my brother is the only one described with a throne or even the whole throne room?" he demanded to know from the demigods so he missed the eye roll from both Hades and Enysswe.

"We are not sure, but people kind of prefer to portray you either ready to blast someone with a lightning bolt or having one of your affairs in whatever form you had taken at that time." Chiron elaborated while Zeus stared spluttering at his half-brother with both Hercules and Perseus looking embarrassed at the new knowledge while the divinities were trying to decide if they should join them in their reaction or to laugh like how Hades and Poseidon were doing before they were joined by Hera.

"I…then tell me how Poseidon is shown." Zeus said to get over his embarrassment, this also shut his brother up and made him look nervous.

"Granddad is kind of usually shown standing with his trident in his hand... ah, and it is kind of a liked theme to show his wedding to step-grandmother Amphitrite." Sally said at which Amphitrite blushed while Poseidon gave his little brother a smug smile.

"Demeter, continue with reading we are wasting our time here." Zeus finally said while most in the throne room tired to not show their amusement seeing how it had been him starting this little talk.

**_I shook my head. "Something's wrong. The throne room wasn't the main part of the dream. And that voice from the pit ... I don't know. It just didn't feel like a god's voice."_**

Hades allowed himself a small smile while Athena was again stunned how much Percy could note small things.

"Huh…one can feel a difference in the voices of divinities?" Pan asked in a confused tone, being a Nature God he had excellent hearing, but he could still not find differences.

"Actually there is a difference, but only few are able to note it, well if they are not primordials or in other words first generation gods and goddesses that is." Mich said with a shrug while the others nodded their heads carefully.

**_Annabeth's eyes widened._**

**_"What?" I asked._**

**_"Oh ... nothing. I was just—No, it _****_has _****_to be Hades. Maybe he sent this thief, this invisible person, to get the master bolt, and something went wrong—"_**

"Uncle, sister leave my daughter alone, she just wishes for the less worrisome option to be true." Athena spoke up when she saw both Hades and Persephone narrow their eyes at Annabeth who looked stunned at first, but gave her mother a thankful smile.

"I never knew that you would be for the usage of denial Athena." Persephone told her half-sister.

"I'm not, I just don't wish for the two of you to frighten my child." she answered back the truth and the only argument she could bring up without contradicting herself, though from the corner of her eyes she saw the smile on Annabeth's face shine more brighter which on the other hand made her feel a type of warmth in her chest.

"_It seems that these books certainly have the power to make us more of a family." _Hera heard her older sister's voice in her head which made her smile and look in her direction with a pleased nod, but there were still many things they needed to push out of the way, one of them the way how Hades get's seen, she hoped that these books would make Zeus see sense or at least give them courage to force him to see it.

**_"Like what?"_**

**_"I—I don't know," she said. "But if he stole Zeus's symbol of power from Olympus, and the gods were hunting him, I mean, a lot of things could go wrong. So this thief had to hide the bolt, or he lost it somehow. Anyway, he failed to bring it to Hades. That's what the voice said in your dream, right? The guy failed. That would explain what the Furies were searching for when they came after us on the bus. Maybe they thought we had retrieved the bolt."_**

"Ugh…I'm letting myself be lead by my anger towards Lord Hades am I right?" Annabeth asked with a painful sigh, her hesitations showed that she may have a clue, but she was stubbornly holding on to the fact that it was Hades.

"Yes, you kind of were and this will hold on for two more chapters after this." Sally told her mother; at least would En and Henry be completely clam after those two chapters.

**_I wasn't sure what was wrong with her. She looked pale._**

Annabeth held her head, she should have just told him her other assumption, such things are dangerous in a battle and they will be facing a war.

**_"But if I'd already retrieved the bolt," I said, "why would I be traveling to the Underworld?"_**

"This is certainly a remarkable point, if he would already have it then he would not be on his way to Lord Hades." Odysseus pointed out while everyone looked thoughtful, there was something they were missing from the picture. The question is what?

One would thing that when you have something such powerful as Zeus's Master Bolt with you that you would notice it somehow. Chiron had given an apt description how it looked and it's powers so it would not be that hard to miss, but they had not heard about Percy having anything remotely similar to the Bolt. It just didn't make any sense.

**_"To threaten Hades," Grover suggested. "To bribe or blackmail him into getting your mom back."_**

"Firstly, no demigod can use the power of a god's weapon without the allowance of their owner." Hades stated before Persephone took over for her husband.

"Secondly bribing or blackmailing my husband is not possible for a soul, a fair exchange in the same value as the soul maybe even a test is possible, but not the above mentioned two options." she finished before sharing a smile with Hades while Apollo bit back a sigh, it was really not easy for him to watch his sister and the one he wanted interact with each other.

"Seems as if your grandparents are certainly much in tune." Misty whispered to both En and Henry while a bit further before them Will gave his father a sympathetic smile.

**_I whistled. "You have evil thoughts for a goat."_**

This made a few people snicker at the comment before Demeter continued, if for noting else then to stop the interaction between her precious daughter and her dreadful-brother or was he not? She really did not understand what she should think of Hades and she would not waste her time with frustrating herself with that.

"And they have till now not heard about Coach Hedge." Mich whispered to the ohters, now that was one violence loving satyr.

**_"Why, thank you."_**

There were a few more snickers from those who knew Grover.

**_"But the thing in the pit said it was waiting for _****_two _****_items," I said. "If the master bolt is one, what's the other?"_**

Persephone narrowed her eyes again, she had a hunch what it was and sneaked a look at the legacies for confirmation. When Enysswe noticed her gaze she gave a small nod at which the Queen of Dead bit back a furious sound and someone dared to do such a thing and think that they could get away with it.

Meanwhile looked the others worried while Athena and her children tried figuring out what the other item could be.

**_Grover shook his head, clearly mystified._**

"He is not the only one." Jake stated while shaking his head, and they say that this was the easiest quest in some ways, he already dreaded the others if this one could be called easy or even remotely calm.

**_Annabeth was looking at me as if she knew my next question, and was silently willing me not to ask it._**

"Nice try mom, but if dad has something bothering him in regards a quest or a suspicion he will ask." Luke told his mother who nodded her head carefully, she knew that the question needs to be addressed for their own safety, one needs to always look at all the possibilities to find the right solution for a problem. Why she was refusing to see sense was somewhat beyond her, it was just not logical how she acted.

**_"You have an idea what might be in that pit, don't you?" I asked her. "I mean, if it isn't Hades?"_**

"Something pretty bad which is coming our way." Beckendorf said missing how the legacies tried not to flinch while on the thrones and outside of he palace the gathered divinities looked more then nervous about the prospect of Kronos getting out of his prison and wanting revenge.

**_"Percy ... let's not talk about it. Because if it isn't Hades ... No. It has to be Hades."_**

"Sorry, but denial about a problem, no matter it being worse then you wish it to be, can bring many problems with it if not acted on them or at least taken into consideration as a possibility. _It did_ bring problems with it that the decision was postponed and needed an almost disaster for even deciding to discuss it." Enysswe said bitterly while glaring at Zeus who returned her glare.

"I'm really starting to get annoyed by your accusations child." Zeus told her while both Apollo and Hades narrowed their eyes at him ready to move if needed, Apollo often wished to step up towards his father when he made large mistakes, but never dared openly opposing him, but this time around he certainly would if he dared to hurt his granddaughter.

"Well, that is your problem if a child seems to know more about the ancient divine laws then you, the so called King of Gods do." no one was sure if they should be impressed by that comeback or not, mostly after the air filled again with the smell of ozone and the room seemed to darken.

"I know the laws." Zeus bit out, he was really tempted to teach that brat a lesson, no matter what Lady Nyx and the Fates will do to him later on.

"The ones you made when establishing your Godly Regime as it is tradition, though you have on the way forgot all the others and brought suffering on your family for that grave error in judgement." Enysswe told him in a cold tone which made the gods feel uncomfortable; it also did not help them when they noticed that the other legacies looked just as lost and worried as them.

"Enysswe, what do you mean?" Apollo asked his granddaughter who only gave him a sad smile, her tri-coloured eyes seemed to shift for a few seconds at Hermes.

"You will soon see grandfather, no law can be broken without punishment and all of our deeds carry consequences with them, no matter if mortal or divine." she told him before turning to her step-great-grandmother who after realizing that she was silently told to continue started reading, but the feeling of uneasiness stayed, just like the faint smell of ozone in the air.

"En?" Sally whispered to the other who only shook her head, indicating that she will not answer their questions till it is time.

**_Wasteland rolled by. We passed a sign that said CALI FORNIA STATE LINE, 12 MILES._**

**_I got the feeling I was missing one simple, critical piece of information._**

Everyone bit back a groan, that damned Casino had really done it.

**_It was like when I stared at a common word I should know, but I couldn't make sense of it because one or two letters were floating around. The more I thought about my quest, the more I was sure that confronting Hades wasn't the real answer._**

"His instincts are well placed." Lupa said approvingly while even Athena needed to admit this, she could also see that they were all riled up against each other without either of them noticing that they were playing into Kronos's hands.

"Now if that Casino would not have messed with your heads you would be much better of." Clarisse growled, that place really messed up the quest and not only with taking away five day from it.

**_There was something else going on, something even more dangerous._**

"Unfortunately." most mumbled, they will be really facing a second Titanomachia, just what one wants to hear.

**_The problem was: we were hurtling toward the Underworld at ninety-five miles an hour,_**

"Please let that cab have seat belts." Frederic mumbled to himself, that was not a speed he wanted to see by a cab in which his daughter is sitting!

**_betting that Hades had the Master Bolt._**

Hades and his grandchildren huffed while Persephone hoped that they would soon arrive and clear things up regards her husband.

**_If we got there and found out we were wrong, we wouldn't have time to correct ourselves. The solstice deadline would pass and war would begin._**

Everyone groaned, this was the last thing they wanted to hear, mostly that they did not know how they had managed to solve the problem seeing the other books and the legacies being present.

**_"The answer is in the Underworld," Annabeth assured me._**

"In a way was the answer really there, though not what they fully assumed at that time, or well mom wanted to fully assume seeing how the problem is also imprisoned down there." Sally said while glancing over at En and Henry, they would be in two more chapters much calmer, well maybe not En if Zeus keeps up with getting into fights with her. The only ground their Zeus was not doing this may be probably because they rarely interact with each other.

"At least will the truth be soon revealed." Hera said sighing, but from the earlier argument she guessed that her husband would not want to take notice about their father till that incident which forces him to acknowledge it, she did not notice how Apollo narrowed his eyes at this father as he was starting to have a guess what all must have happened for him to at least put the issue out as a discussion.

**_"You saw spirits of the dead, Percy. There's only one place that could be. We're doing the right thing."_**

The legacies nodded their heads, they had done the right thing, but not in the way they would have expected it, but with that they had not only stopped a war, but also passed a test as they had found out.

**_She tried to boost our morale by suggesting clever strategies for getting into the Land of the Dead,_**

"You know that it is even without dying not that hard to do right?" Henry asked with a raised eyebrow.

"In a way is he right about that." come it from those past heroes who had been down there as well as outside from Psyche.

"Again…nice to know." Chris said while looking at his siblings, he would like to avoid that place for a while alive or not.

**_but my heart wasn't in it. There were just too many unknown factors. It was like cramming for a test without knowing the subject. And believe me, I'd done _****_that _****_enough times._**

There were some nods from the demigods at this while the legacies tried not to smile, seems as if he even managed to figure out without knowing that he was being tested on his quest.

**_The cab sped west. Every gust of wind through Death Valley sounded like a spirit of the dead._**

"You are only imagining it." Henry said while shaking his head.

"How do you know if they sound alike or not?" asked a curious Dakota, though this was kind of a morbid curiosity.

"Well, beside hearing enough dead souls, as mentioned we are not allied with the Egyptians who had decided to have demigods with mortals and two of the oldest ones are the children of the God of Desert and Storms so that is a given that we have spent time together." he elaborated.

"The two are twins and together with their cousin were the three often at camp seeing that they were born before their own camp in Memphis could be build and they learned form our parents." Sally explained grinning, it was fun to have the Egyptians around mostly that each of them beside their powers can take up the animal form of their parent or the form of their sacred animal like her uncle Frank could shape-shift. "Tori had mostly spent time with dad seeing how she had inherited more of the storm attribute while Xander the desert attribute and we once asked them to show us how a sandstorm could be in close up."

"It was neat to see one like that, we did not even feel it." Ace added in while the others nodded their heads in understanding.

"When exactly are we going to meet the Egyptians and their followers?" Malcolm asked from the legacies.

"It won't take to long, only a couple of years, but as already said we are not here because of our allies, but for you to change some wrongs before they escalate." Sally told her uncle before waving for Demeter who reluctantly continued.

**_Every time the brakes hissed on an eighteen-wheeler, it reminded me of Echidna's reptilian voice._**

Cue glares at Zeus who avoided their gazes and just indicated for Demeter to continue.

**_At sunset, the taxi dropped us at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, only it smelled worse. At sunset, the taxi dropped us at the beach in Santa Monica. It looked exactly the way L.A. beaches do in the movies, only it smelled worse._**

Both Enysswe and Henry nodded, they really did smell terrible.

**_There were carnival rides lining the Pier, palm trees lining the sidewalks, homeless guys sleeping in the sand dunes, and surfer dudes waiting for the perfect wave._**

**_Grover, Annabeth, and I walked down to the edge of the surf._**

**_"What now?" Annabeth asked._**

**_The Pacific was turning gold in the setting sun. I thought about how long it had been since I'd stood on the beach at Montauk, on the opposite side of the country, looking out at a different sea._**

Some gave sympathetic looks towards the book at this, one often remembers their last peaceful memory when they still thought to be normal.

**_How could there be a god who could control all that?_**

Poseidon smiled at his child's thoughts while his other demigod children nodded, at the start had it almost overwhelmed them to know about their real father so they did not see Demeter raise and eyebrow at the next sentence.

**_What did my science teacher used to say—two-thirds of the earth's surface was covered in water? How could I be the son of someone that powerful?_**

Poseidon's smile become even more pleased while Zeus was about to retort that the sky was much larger, but Hera covered his mouth before he had a chance to comment and start an argument when they were so close to know who the real thief was.

**_I stepped into the surf_**

**_"Percy?" Annabeth said. "What are you doing?"_**

**_I kept walking, up to my waist, then my chest._**

**_She called after me, "You know how polluted that water is? There're all kinds of toxic—"_**

"Annabeth? You know that with you needing to finish a quest and his presence having been requested there could he not been busy regards water pollution." Katie pointed out while Poseidon, Amphitrite, Triton, Artemis, Pan and a good deal of nature gods and spirits mumbled annoyed threats regards polluters.

"I know." Annabeth replied sighing, her first quest and it is not going as smooth as she had imagined, it seemed that she really did not know enough to get through one without a good deal of mistakes and danger.

**_That's when my head went under._**

"And this is a way to drone out your future-wife." Connor whispered to Travis, Chris and Trickster who had moved a bit closer to his siblings.

"Agreed." they whispered back.

**_I held my breath at first. It's difficult to intentionally inhale water._**

Both Luke and Sally nodded in agreement, at the start they had also been scarred no matter that their dad and grandfather were there reassuring them that it would be fine, the demigod sons of the Sea God also nodded their heads.

"So it is like flying for me, the first time I was pretty scarred." Jay admitted.

"Don't tell me, it was the first time you teached me somewhat hard taking a step when your dad if floating before you while you are standing at the end of a pacifier and that was before Temptest decided to give me a friendly nudge." Nathan said, he had been for a whole month angry at the storm spirit.

"Temptest?" Jay asked in confusion.

"Sixth book." Nath replied to his dad.

**_Finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I gasped. Sure enough, I could breathe normally._**

**_I walked down into the shoals. I shouldn't have been able to see through the murk, but somehow I could tell where everything was. I could sense the rolling texture of the bottom. I could make out sand-dollar colonies dotting the sandbars. I could even see the currents, warm and cold streams swirling together._**

A good deal of the demigods looked more then stunned, those powers sounded really brilliant to have.

**_I felt something rub against my leg. I looked down and almost shot out of the water like a ballistic missile. Sliding along beside me was a five-foot-long mako shark_****.**

"Erm…did it just say that the shark was rubbing against his leg?" asked a pale looking Pollux.

"Those are cute." Sally said happily while beside the legacies and the gods most of the others gave her weird looks.

**_But the thing wasn't attacking. It was nuzzling me. Heeling like a dog._**

"Oookkeyyy… that is kind of weird, but at least is he not in danger." Michael said carefully as the others gathered their jaws up from the ground.

**_Tentatively, I touched its dorsal fin. It bucked a little, as if inviting me to hold tighter. I grabbed the fin with both hands. It took off, pulling me along._**

"I think I prefer dolphins a bit more." Silena stated.

**_The shark carried me down into the darkness. It deposited me at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sand bank dropped off into a huge chasm. It was like standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon at midnight, not being able to see much, but knowing the void was right there. The shark carried me down into the darkness. It deposited me at the edge of the ocean proper, where the sand bank dropped off into a huge chasm. It was like standing on the rim of the Grand Canyon at midnight, not being able to see much, but knowing the void was right there._**

"Yeah, my parents and Nath's dad could tell you pretty much about the Canyon, mostly how it feels crashing down in it." Mich said while everyone turned to him wide eyes, Jay even looked panicked.

"WHAT!" they all demanded.

"Sixth book." was his only reply as he watched his grandparents exchange nervous looks before his grandmother patted his grandfather on the hand.

**_The surface shimmered maybe a hundred and fifty feet above. I knew I should've been crushed by the pressure. Then again, I shouldn't have been able to breathe. I wondered if there was a limit to how deep I could go, if I could sink straight to the bottom of the Pacific._**

"He could," Poseidon said while the demigods looked at him wide eyed.

**_Then I saw something glimmering in the darkness below, growing bigger and brighter as it rose toward me. A woman's voice, like my mother's, called: "Percy Jackson."_**

"Poseidon…" Zeus stared, but Enysswe interrupted him.

"You know that this is still by the rules, his presence was requested in the delivered message and seeing how his father was not allowed to personally attend he sent the same messenger in his steed, beside that, that message and this meeting were not only issued by Lord Poseidon, he had been ordered to do so." she finished while everyone looked confused, who had asked the god to send that message and arrange this meeting?

**_As she got closer, her shape became clearer. She had flowing black hair, a dress made of green silk. Light flickered around her, and her eyes were so distractingly beautiful I hardly noticed the stallion-sized sea horse she was riding._**

**_She dismounted. The sea horse and the mako shark whisked off and started playing something that looked like tag. _**

"Somehow this sounds kind of adorable." Silena said while Gwen nodded her head in agreement.

**_The underwater lady smiled at me. "You've come far, Percy Jackson. Well done."_**

**_I wasn't quite sure what to do, so I bowed. "You're the woman who spoke to me in the Mississippi River."_**

**_"Yes, child. I am a Nereid, a spirit of the sea. It was not easy to appear so far upriver, but the naiads, my freshwater cousins, helped sustain my life force._**

Outside both water spirit groups exchanged warm smiles with each other.

"That was really nice from them." Katie said with a little smile.

**_They honor Lord Poseidon, though they do not serve in his court."_**

**_"And ... you serve in Poseidon's court?"_**

**_She nodded. "It has been many years since a child of the Sea God has been born. We have watched you with great interest."_**

"Yes, due to first Zeus and then Poseidon breaking the oath they had made on the Styx." Hera said while rolling her eyes. "It is quiet ironic that your brother on whom you have forced it on is the one to actually stay by it." she told the two squiring gods while Jay looked somewhat uncomfortable.

"Demeter." both brothers called suddenly to the Agriculture Goddess who rolled her eyes at them, but still continued.

**_Suddenly I remembered faces in the waves off Montauk Beach when I was a little boy, reflections of smiling women. Like so many of the weird things in my life, I'd never given it much thought before._**

Hearing this the other demigods decided to try later on remembering if they had also experienced some similar weird, but not dangerous encounters regards the element of their own parent.

**_"If my father is so interested in me," I said, "why isn't he here? Why doesn't he speak to me?"_**

"Your uncle." come it from the gods and goddesses.

**_A cold current rose out of the depths._**

Poseidon knew that this was probably his hurt reaction that he could not come.

**_"Do not judge the Lord of the Sea too harshly," the Nereid told me. "He stands at the brink of an unwanted war. He has much to occupy his time. Besides, he is forbidden to help you directly. The gods may not show such favoritism."_**

The gods again glared at Zeus while the demigods bowed their heads.

**_"Even to their own children?"_**

**_"Especially to them._**

The glares got even more heated as Zeus started squirming in his throne because it started becoming hard to ignore the looks his family was giving him.

**_The gods can work by indirect influence only. That is why I give you a warning, and a gift."_**

**_She held out her hand. Three white pearls flashed in her palm._**

Athena, her children and Odysseus frowned, why were it only three pearls.

"This gift had been decided by those instructing this meeting as well as another message." Enysswe said, the Nereid had been forbidden to tell whom those in truth were who had foretold regards her uncle's future.

**_"I know you journey to Hades's realm," she said. "Few mortals have ever done this and survived: Orpheus, who had great music skill;_**

Orpheus smiled and gave a thenkful look to his fahter whom had been the one teaching him with his best skills.

**_Hercules, who had great strength; Hercules, who had great strength;_**

Hercules and Zeus exchanged a smile before the former composed himself when noting the dark looks he was getting from both Lady Artemis and the Dark Princess from behind his father.

**_Houdini, who could escape even the depths of Tartarus. _**

"Technically he had been never down there only dangerously close to fall in, but could get up." Misty said when seeing the horrified expression on her grandfather's face, well at last will he not need to worry for one of his kids. _"Saddly that goes not for Lords Hades, Poseidon and Lady Athena."_ she thought while Luke, Sally and Enysswe did their best not to flinch.

"Good, none of you children should ever land in that hellhole." Hermes said in a relieved tone so he did not notice the legacies tensing.

**_Do you have these talents?"_**

**_"Urn ... no, ma'am."_**

**_"Ah, but you have something else, Percy. You have gifts you have only begun to know. _**

The legacies nodded their heads, one of those gifts was understanding.

**_The oracles have foretold a great and terrible future for you, should you survive to man hood._**

"So wonderful to hear this news, and which oracles were this so that I can thank them?" Poseidon asked testily while En gave him a smile.

"In two chapters I will tell you." she informed the god who nodded while the demigods exchanged nervous glances, Percy had it really not easy while outside the others were again agreeing with Helios's earlier assumption.

**_Poseidon would not have you die before your time. Therefore take these, and when you are in need, smash a pearl at your feet."_**

**_"What will happen?"_**

**_"That," she said, "depends on the need. But remember: what belongs to the sea will always return to the sea."_**

"I don't get it." Travis said blinking.

"You will soon understand." Lance told his father.

**_"What about the warning?"_**

**_Her eyes flickered with green light. "Go with what your heart tells you, or you will lose all. Hades feeds on doubt and hopelessness. He will trick you if he can, make you mistrust your own judgment. Once you are in his realm, he will never willingly let you leave. Keep faith. Good luck, Percy Jackson."_**

"I really wonder whatever I had ever done against any of you for everyone having such a high and pleasing view about me?" Hades asked sarcastically as his wife and grandchildren let out soft growls, the older gods only squirmed in their seats, but this time Poseidon the most as he somehow remembered a faint melody in the back of his mind which he had not heard since having been small and living in their father's stomach.

**_She summoned her sea horse and rode toward the void._**

**_"Wait!" I called. "At the river, you said not to trust the gifts. What gifts?"_**

**_"Good-bye, young hero," she called back, her voice fading into the depths. "You must listen to your heart." She became a speck of glowing green, and then she was gone._**

"Sometimes, trusting your heart is the hardest task." Hestia spoke up softly while gazing over all those gathered in the throne room.

**_I wanted to follow her down into the darkness. I wanted to see the court of Poseidon._**

"Now he sees it pretty often." Sally said while hiding the sadness in her voice, the first time her dad had been at his father's court in person had been marked by death and destruction.

**_But I looked up at the sunset darkening on the surface. My friends were waiting. We had so little time..._**

**_I kicked upward toward the shore._**

Hestia nodded her head approvingly at the young hero's actions.

**_When I reached the beach, my clothes dried instantly._**

"I still find that ability great, imagine an all out water pistol and balloon fight and we would be dry in seconds." Connor told his siblings whom nodded their heads wistfully while Perseus was again glaring at Theseus who gave him an innocent smile, which by the way does not work for the children of Poseidon.

**_I told Grover and Annabeth what had happened, and showed them the pearls._**

**_Annabeth grimaced. "No gift comes without a price."_**

**_"They were free."_**

"I didn't mean it like that." Annabeth said while shaking her head before turning to the legacies.

"You will know soon." was the only reply she got from Luke.

**_"No." She shook her head. "'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait." "No." She shook her head. "'There is no such thing as a free lunch.' That's an ancient Greek saying that translated pretty well into American. There will be a price. You wait."_**

Everyone nodded their heads while Reyna added the saying to her list, it could certainly be applied into their current time and place.

**_On that happy thought, we turned our backs on the sea. On that happy thought, we turned our backs on the sea._**

"Way to dampen the mood Annabeth." Connor told the girl who shook her head, that had been not her intention.

**_With some spare change from Ares's backpack, we took the bus into West Hollywood. I showed the driver the Underworld address slip I'd taken from Aunty Em's Garden Gnome Emporium, but he'd never heard of DOA Recording Studios._**

"It would be disastrous if mortals could find it, all those ghost hunters would literally swarm us." Enysswe said, that would be the last thing they would need.

"Ghost hunters?" Bellerophon asked blinking.

"Mortals who want to find ghosts and probe that they exist, they even kind of managed to get shades on pictures and a few sound recordings on places where some type of tragedy happened and some souls still linger because we could not get to them sooner." Henry explained at which Hades nodded his head, those mortals would be really bothersome to deal with if it are the ghost for which they would come, so no scarring away would work.

"Mortals will certainly change in the future." Jason said, he knew not many mortals who would freely go to a place filled with the souls of the deceased.

**_"You remind me of somebody I saw on TV," he told me. "You a child actor or something?"_**

"Good that they are in Hollywood." Mitchell said with a relieved sigh the others agreed with him on this, it would be easy to say 'yes' and everyone believing it.

**_"Uh ... I'm a stunt double ... for a lot of child actors."_**

**_"Oh! That explains it."_**

"But how will they find the entrance?" asked Perseus in a thoughtful tone.

"It will come up at the end of this chapter." Misty informed him.

**_We thanked him and got off quickly at the next stop._**

**_We wandered for miles on foot, looking for DOA. Nobody seemed to know where it was. It didn't appear in the phone book._**

"Why would it stand in there?" Henry asked in confusion while the demigods facepalmed.

"Why am I not thinking." Annabeth groaned, it should be obvious that they would not find it in a phone book if it was the entrance of the Underworld.

**_Twice, we ducked into alleys to avoid cop cars._**

"And there will be also that." Castor pointed out, this quest started becoming hectic and time was running out fast.

**_I froze in front of an appliance-store window because a television was playing an interview with somebody who looked very familiar—my stepdad, Smelly Gabe._**

Cue growls, glares and threats against that _thing_ which called itself human.

**_He was talking to Barbara Walters—I mean, as if he were some kind of huge celebrity. She was interviewing him in our apartment, in the middle of a poker game,_**

"What! He is being interviewed regards his stupid lies that Percy had done something to his mother and all that while he is playing poker?" Katie snapped as she and the other females looked ready to hurt someone.

"That…can't people see that this is _not_ how a worried husband should look, leave alone blame their stepson." Silena agreed, she could not believe that vile man.

"I may have often said bad things about men, but that I don't even know what does not even deserve to be called a man." Artemis hissed.

**_and there was a young blond lady sitting next to him, patting his hand._**

"I'm really tempted to hurt him, when will he land by my brother again?" Poseidon asked in a tight tone.

"Fore last chapter of this book." Luke growled which made his grandfather nod in satisfaction that it will happen soon.

**_A fake tear glistened on his cheek. He was saying, "Honest, Ms. Walters, if it wasn't for Sugar here, my grief counsellor, I'd be a wreck._**

"Grief counsellor, as if I would say the term 'lover' would be more accurate." Mitchell spat while Hera mumbled something about cheating bastards.

"And another place where all that money went." Amphitrite said distastefully, that man had been really asking for her brother-in-law's direct attention.

**_My stepson took everything I cared about. My wife ... my Camaro ... I—I'm sorry. I have trouble talking about it."_**

"Did he just dare to put his wife in the same category as his chariot?" Perseus asked with narrowed eyes while both Frederic and Sue also looked appealed.

"I'm really glad for whatever brings him to your realm brother, maybe you can even except small visit from me if that is no trouble for you." Poseidon told Hades who gave him a dark grin.

"I don't mind a little visit, would you like a small tour?" he asked.

"With pleasure, I may even have my Trident with me in case I get tired and wish to lean on something familiar." Poseidon said in a thoughtful tone while the others looked pleased with the implications between the two brothers.

**_"There you have it, America." Barbara Walters turned to the camera. "A man torn apart._**

"I have better suggestions then that." Artemis growled, that embodiment was the last scum.

"I'm open for suggestions." Hades told his niece who gave him a beaming smile, she had some nice ideas for punishment.

"Seems as if Gabe's punishment will be even better then it already is." Henry whispered to his cousin who grinned in agreement.

**_An adolescent boy with serious issues._**

"Of course he has serious issues, he is a freaking demigod!" yelled a furious Clarisse while everyone else gave voice to their agreement.

"Anyone who is constantly attacked by monsters, goes on quest and is faced with mythology being fully real is bound to have them." Frank snapped, he could already see his grandmother restraining herself if she saw this, to not go to new York and to give that person a piece of her mind.

"I would like to see _her _facing a griffon." Reyna growled with a furious look on her face.

"I would more suggest something larger, but that would also do." Orion mumbled, his little brother could not do anything regards the troubles, he was not born as a mortal.

"And people say that ignorance is bliss." Michael said with a disgusted look on his face.

And it went on like this for the upcoming five minutes till things calmed down enough so that Demeter could continue.

**_Let me show you, again, the last known photo of this troubled young fugitive, taken a week ago in Denver."_**

"Wonderful." Annabeth mumbled under her breath.

**_The screen cut to a grainy shot of me, Annabeth, and Grover standing outside the Colorado diner, talking to Ares._**

"Wonderful, Ares does not exactly look all to convincing in the innocent department." Athena groaned as her brother gave her a strange look regards why he would want to appear innocent so they missed the annoyed look Ace had on his face while the other legacies looked amused.

**_"Who are the other children in this photo?" Barbara Walters asked dramatically._**

Frederic flinched, wonderful now he could only hope that he will not be having the television on when this gets shown or he will have a heart attack. The last thing a father whose daughter had run away from home with seven wants to see is years later a photo on TV and implication that she become a fugitive.

**_"Who is the man with them?_**

"In Percy's case his cousin, in Annabeth's her uncle and in the last case a Greek God." Hermes supplied with a grin to lift the mood, but it did not have the desired effect.

**_Is Percy Jackson a delinquent,_**

"No."

**_a terrorist, _**

"Definitely _not._"

**_or perhaps the brainwashed victim of a frightening new cult? _**

"Anymore such idiotic ideas?" come it from the demigods and some of the antique even thought they did not know what a 'terrorist' was.

**_When we come back, we chat with a leading child psychologist. Stay tuned, America."_**

"Most of those are not worth much, except if they happen to be a satyr or demigod looking for others and some are even actually monsters on the hunt." Lupa said distastefully while the others looked still annoyed.

"What is a psychologist anyway?" Orion asked in confusion.

"In short it is a person who evaluates, diagnoses, treats, and studies behaviour and mental processes, some of them provide in a way mental health care and counselling like after someone is part of witnesses a great tragedy and help them get over it or at least deal with it or do this for research in the case of mental problems like MPD which means that a person basically develops a number of separated personalities which can differ from the person even in age and gender. In some peoples option is it a less dangerous form of schizophrenia." Lee explained, but then Misty spoke up as she looked slightly pityingly at the gods.

"You guys will kind of experience the later seeing that when you guys switched places with the Flame as you heard the Romans gave you new names and there were also some changes in your personality and for a long time you had some trouble with switching between your sided and different demeanour." she explained to the pale gods. "Well those whose powers are kind of universal had it easier with the changes in them while others did often a whole turn, but you will see it from book six till ten." she finished explaining and now even the demigods looked worried, well the Romans knew now why the gods acted different then they were told, but it also worried them that they will be having due to their ancestors in a way split personalities.

"Uh…so nice to know, Demeter…" Poseidon told his sister who nodded her head reluctantly.

**_"C'mon," Grover told me. He hauled me away before I could punch a hole in the appliance-store window._**

"That would be good to avoid cuts like that from glass." Lee said approvingly, the cleaning of such wounds takes time and patience which they did not have, leave alone something to disinfect and bind it.

**_It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a New Yorker. I don't scare easy. But L.A. had a totally different feel from New York. It got dark, and hungry-looking characters started coming out on the streets to play. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm a New Yorker. I don't scare easy. But L.A. had a totally different feel from New York._**

"Each place has their own nature." Odysseus pointed out, he had been on his journey home on many places and they had each a different feeling to them, even the cities.

**_Back home, everything seemed close. It didn't matter how big the city was, you could get anywhere without getting lost. The street pattern and the subway made sense. There was a system to how things worked. A kid could be safe as long as he wasn't stupid._**

"That applies to most if they are familiar with the are they are in." Athena pointed out.

**_L.A. wasn't like that. It was spread out, chaotic, hard to move around._**

"Only if you are not used to it." Enysswe and Henry said at the same time.

**_It reminded me of Ares._**

"Huh?" said god asked in confusion while Demeter smirked, that rally sounded like her nephew in some ways.

**_It wasn't enough for L.A. to be big; it had to prove it was big by being loud and strange and difficult to navigate, too._**

"Excuse me?" Ares asked dumbfaulted while his siblings broke out laughing at this while most of the demigods bit at their tongues to stop themselves from joining in.

**_I didn't know how we were ever going to find the entrance to the Underworld by tomorrow, the summer solstice._**

"That is really a problem." Malcolm mumbled to himself, but at least they will have the answer soon asto how they did it.

**_We walked past gangbangers, bums, and street hawkers, who looked at us like they were trying to figure if we were worth the trouble of mugging._**

**_As we hurried passed the entrance of an alley, a voice from the darkness said, "Hey, you."_**

**_Like an idiot, I stopped._**

"Usually that is not a good idea, but I have a guess who those are, the usual all bark, but no bite type of people they appear in large number because they try to be threatening." Henry replied, he had once been faced with En with such kids coming from rich families and being bored, it was pathetic really, En only knocked one out who flirted with her and the rest scrambled away in a matter of seconds.

**_Before I knew it, we were surrounded. A gang of kids had circled us. Six of them in all—white kids with expensive clothes and mean faces. Like the kids at Yancy Academy: rich brats playing at being bad boys._**

"Yup, and like most get one knocked out and the rest will all make a run for it seeing that if they make it into press for something bad their money supply will get cancelled for a while." Mitchell said in agreement to Henry's earlier statement so he did not notice the annoyed look passing over Malcolm's face, he hated rich bullies who thought themselves better then others, the Ares cabin had at least a right to be like that due to their inherited nature unlike them.

"And what is the excuse of their parents for failing to raise their kids? Seeing how they are not gods who are bound and restrained by divine law to be there for them." Hera asked distastefully.

"Carrier." was the reply.

"They should all be force-feed more cereal." Demeter mumbled to herself before continuing in a louder voice.

**_Instinctively, I uncapped Riptide._**

"Saddly it will only pass through them." Katie said scowling.

**_When the sword appeared out of nowhere, the kids backed off, but their leader was either really stupid or really brave,_**

"It is usually the former in such cases, those who actually have brains at their usage do other type of schemes." Sally said.

**_because he kept coming at me with a switchblade._**

**_I made the mistake of swinging._**

**_The kid yelped. But he must've been one hundred per cent mortal, because the blade passed harmlessly right through his chest. He looked down. "What the ..."_**

"I don't approve of that move, but seeing what all had happened on the way there are his instinctive reactions understandable, beside that now he has a type of distraction he can use." Chiron said while the others nodded their heads, now they could get away.

**_I figured I had about three seconds before his shock turned to anger. "Run!" I screamed at Annabeth and Grover._**

There were several nods of approval.

**_We pushed two kids out of the way and raced down the street, not knowing where we were going. We turned a sharp corner._**

**_"There!" Annabeth shouted._**

"And here come the waterbeds." Lance whispered to Ace who nodded his head in agreement.

**_Only one store on the block looked open, its windows glaring with neon._**

"Why do I have the strange feeling that it will be a dumb idea to go in there?" Annabeth asked, great there is a chance for another trouble she had dragged them into.

"Because is was mom." Sally said sighing, her poor uncle Theseus will be freaking out when he hears about her dad not also meeting with uncle Crusty.

**_The sign above the door said something like_**

Here Demeter stopped and looked over at her nephew. "Hermes, would you please?" she asked the god who stood up from his throne, and much to Pan's dismay continued to have a tight hold around him, and walked over to his aunt.

"It reads **_"_****_CRSTUY'S WATRE BDE ALPACE."_**" he said before returning to his throne with his embarrassed and annoying looking son who hoped that there won't be much more such parts when he will get carried around like a baby goat by this currently overprotective father. Really, he was acting as if he would have disappeared from the face of the earth or something.

**_"Crusty's Water Bed Palace?" Grover translated._**

**_It didn't sound like a place I'd ever go except in an emergency, but this definitely qualified_****.**

"I don't know, monsters tend to outweight the danger mortals pose." Trickster said slightly nervously.

"I just hope that it will be not a major monster they meet this time." Triton said while his niece and nephew bit at their tongues that their dad kind of meet up with family in there.

**_We burst through the doors, ran behind a water bed, and ducked. A split second later, the gang kids ran past outside._**

**_"I think we lost them," Grover panted._**

**_A voice behind us boomed, "Lost who?"_**

**_We all jumped._**

Everyone looked nervous, this was too soon.

**_Standing behind us was a guy who looked like a raptor in a leisure suit._**

"Uh…nice comparison…" Felix said nervously, that was already a bad start for the description to follow.

**_He was at least seven feet tall, with absolutely no hair. He had gray, leathery skin, thick-lidded eyes, and a cold, reptilian smile. He moved toward us slowly, but I got the feeling he could move fast if he needed to._**

Theseus, Poseidon and Triton suddenly tensed in their seats, somehow that description sounded eerily familiar to them.

"Ok, that is a creepy description." Dakota said while Gwen shivered, she would have screamed if a person like that would have stood behind her.

**_His suit might've come from the Lotus Casino. It belonged back in the seventies, big-time. _**

This made everyone even more suspicious.

**_The shirt was silk paisley, unbuttoned halfway down his hairless chest. The lapels on his velvet jacket were as wide as landing strips. The silver chains around his neck—I couldn't even count them._**

**_"I'm Crusty," he said, with a tartar-yellow smile._**

**_I resisted the urge to say, _****_Yes, you are._**

"Ugh…" come it from Aphrodite and her children who looked disgusted, but some of the others were also not all to far behind to show the same reaction as them while Theseus had the unwelcome feeling that he had seen such teeth before.

**_"Sorry to barge in," I told him. "We were just, um, browsing."_**

**_"You mean hiding from those no-good kids," he grumbled. "They hang around every night. I get a lot of people in here, thanks to them. _**

There were many scowls at this, those brats were the ground why people ended up in a monster's lair.

"Someone should push them inside there." Clarisse growled, it was distasteful to throw people in front of a monster mostly if they happen to be mortals who have no power to defend themselves or to even notice the danger.

**_Say, you want to look at a water bed?"_**

Orpheus noted the strange look on Theseus's face and braced himself for the breaking ribs and new bruises.

**_I was about to say _****_No, thanks, _****_when he put a huge paw on my shoulder and steered me deeper into the showroom._**

"Not good." Octavian said when a sudden yelp and a sound like a wounded cat made everyone turn in the direction of the couch holding the heroes of old where Theseus had launched himself again at Orpheus.

"Great, it is something he had meet." Lee said while giving a sympathetic look to his older brother.

**_There was every kind of water bed you could imagine: different kinds of wood, different patterns of sheets; queen-size, king-size, emperor-of-the-universe-size._**

Zeus really didn't like how some of his family turned in his direction regards the mentioning of the last bed.

**_"This is my most popular model." Crusty spread his hands proudly over a bed covered with black satin sheets, with built-in Lava Lamps on the headboard. The mattress vibrated, so it looked like oil-flavored Jell-O._**

**_"Million-hand massage," Crusty told us. "Go on, try it out. Shoot, take a nap. I don't care. No business today, any-way._**

**_"Um," I said, "I don't think ..."_**

**_"Million-hand massage!" Grover cried, and dove in. "Oh, you guys! This is cool."_**

"Grover!" the Greek demigods yelled in exasperation while Chiron shook his head in dismay.

**_"Hmm," Crusty said, stroking his leathery chin. "Almost, almost."_**

Everyone looked confused when Triton suddenly let out a groan while at the same time a whimper come from Theseus.

"It is him." he said while looking over at his nephew and niece.

"Yup, that is uncle Crusty." Sally said with a small smile, at least was this uncle just like two others still busy reforming themselves.

"Erm…why are you calling that monster if…" here Chris was interrupted by Poseidon groaning who had also put together who that was.

"Just wonderful, that are already two times he did that." he groaned while Orpheus was contemplating how to get Theseus's hands on the couch because he didn't fency the idea to have ten holes made into his arms by the others. He was also forming a plan asto how to get revenge on Bellerophon and Orion for pushing the other on him in the first place, well his brothers and nephew will certainly help out in the case of the later person.

**_"Almost what?" I asked._**

**_He looked at Annabeth. "Do me a favor and try this one over here, honey. Might fit."_**

"She will not." growled Athena and Malcolm while Frederic paled he was starting to have a guess who that was and he did not like the fact that his daughter was also there.

**_Annabeth said, "But what—"_**

**_He patted her reassuringly on the shoulder and led her over to the Safari Deluxe model with teakwood lions carved into the frame and a leopard-patterned comforter._**

"Even if that sounds cool something is not right with it." Castor said with a frown on his face.

**_When Annabeth didn't want to lie down, Crusty pushed her._**

**_"Hey!" she protested._**

Both mother and son looked ready to hurt someone, preferably someone with the name Crusty.

**_Crusty snapped his fingers. _****_"Ergo!"_**

Orpheus flinched when unbelievingly Theseus's hold around him tightened even more, yes he will be taking revenge for needing to deal with the emotionally stressed blackhead.

**_Ropes sprang from the sides of the bed, lashing around Annabeth, holding her to the mattress._**

**_Grover tried to get up, but ropes sprang from his black-satin bed, too, and lashed him down._**

Everyone looked to be in a mix of worry and anger at this, they were slowly all getting who that was.

"These books certainly give us a punch of reality, literally." Apollo whispered to Hermes before looking over worriedly to a mumbling Poseidon, he was not sure what the god was saying, but he caught the word _'grounding'_, _'five millennia', 'cave' _and _'kraken'_ being spoken.

**_"N-not c-c-cool!" he yelled, his voice vibrating from the million-hand massage. "N-not c-cool a-at all!"_**

"Agreed."

**_The giant looked at Annabeth, then turned toward me and grinned. "Almost, darn it."_**

**_I tried to step away, but his hand shot out and clamped around the back of my neck. "Whoa, kid. Don't worry. We'll find you one in a sec."_**

Poseidon's mumbles become more frantic, though this time was he also kind of curing his lack of self-control at which Amphitrite could only roll her eyes, this realization kind of come a few decades too late.

**_"Let my friends go."_**

**_"Oh, sure I will. But I got to make them fit, first."_**

Theseus let out a new strange sound and Orpheus was sure that any second he would draw blood when he noticed his niece standing in front of him, her eyes golden. With a small nod of acceptance he watched her place her hand on Theseus's arm which soon relaxed as its owner fell into slumber.

"Thank you, but will you be alright?" Orpheus asked the girl, he did note that she looked a bit pale, but she was smiling at him reassuringly.

"Yes, this was not as bad as getting Aphrodite to sleep." she said and was about to go back to her group when Orpheus spoke up.

"I was told that you need the closeness of one of your relatives with either my father's or Lord Hades's property if you tire yourself out to get better faster." he told her while pushing Theseus back to his seat. "So you can stay here for a bit till you are much better, I don't mind." he offered to her, in truth he would not mind getting to know his rather different niece better so he was glad when she accepted and sat down in his lap while he wrapped his arms around her.

**_"What do you mean?"_**

"Something you don't want to be part of." Apollo said before glancing over to Orpheus and smiling at the scene, at least he had a shared granddaughter with the Dark God if it was not possible to have more.

**_"All the beds are exactly six feet, see? Your friends are too short. Got to make them fit."_**

"NO YOU DON'T" come the angered screams while Theseus shifted and whimpered in his sleep.

**_Annabeth and Grover kept struggling._**

"Who would not?" Katie asked worriedly.

**_"Can't stand imperfect measurements," Crusty muttered._**

"We don't care about your OCD problem!" yelled the Apollo kids beside Orpheus.

"Erm…OCD?" asked a slightly perplexed Jason.

"It is a shortening of obsessive–compulsive disorder, it is kind of a mental problem by which intrusive thoughts that produce uneasiness, apprehension, fear, or worry; by repetitive behaviours aimed at reducing the associated anxiety; or by a combination of such obsessions and compulsions. There are many such observations like excessive washing or cleaning; repeated checking; extreme hoarding; aversion to particular numbers or obsession with them like in his case and some other type of things." Lee explained.

"That certainly sounds like him." Perseus said while looking at Orpheus's younger brother.

"Demeter, you can continue now." Hera told her sister.

**_"Ergo!"_**

**_A new set of ropes leaped out from the top and bottom of the beds, wrapping around Grover and Annabeth's ankles, then around their armpits. The ropes started tightening, pulling my friends from both ends._**

"Don't worry, dad has this under control." Sally called as she saw her grandmother pale while by the smaller couch looked both Frederic and his sons panicked at Annabeth who tried to not show how worried she was.

**_"Don't worry," Crusty told me, "These are stretching jobs. Maybe three extra inches on their spines. They might even live. Now why don't we find a bed you like, huh?"_**

"You two have such a charming uncle." Jay told the Jackson siblings.

"One of a good deal of them." they answered back.

"Not that you can talk much with that jerk as a sibling." Orpheus heard Enysswe mumble under her breath and he was sure that she was glancing at Hercules who tensed for a few seconds.

**_"Percy!" Grover yelled._**

**_My mind was racing. I knew I couldn't take on this giant water-bed salesman alone. He would snap my neck before I ever got my sword out._**

"Please hurry up with that plan." Malcolm pleaded while Mitchell grabbed his hand again to try reassuring him.

**_"Your real name's not Crusty, is it?" I asked._**

**_"Legally, it's Procrustes," he admitted._**

Theseus let out a new whimpering sound at this while digging his fingers into the back of the couch, but not giving any indication that he would wake up anytime soon.

**_"The Stretcher," I said. I remembered the story: the giant who'd tried to kill Theseus with excess hospitality on his way to Athens._**

Cue sound of ripping fabric, again.

**_"Yeah," the salesman said. "But who can pronounce _****_Procrustes? _****_Bad for business. Now 'Crusty,' anybody can say that."_**

"Well he is kind of right…"

"Hermes!"

"Sorry aunt Trite."

**_"You're right. It's got a good ring to it."_**

There were some raised eyebrows at this.

**_His eyes lit up. "You think so?"_**

**_"Oh, absolutely," I said. "And the workmanship on these beds? Fabulous!"_**

"What is he…ah, I get it now." Malcolm said relaxing.

"What do you mean?" Pollux asked curiously.

"I see, he is tricking him with faking interest in his work." Athena said, this was a really good idea the Sea Spawn had there.

**_He grinned hugely, but his fingers didn't loosen on my neck. "I tell my customers that. Every time. Nobody bothers to look at the workmanship._**

"Well, being tied to a bed and slowly ripped in half makes it kind of hard to concentrate on the workmanship." Harmes pointed out with a shake of his head, at least had Percy a really nice idea, tirckery is the second best thing beside briebery in his books.

"Hermes, you are still not helping." Ampitrite told her nephew who gave her an apologetic smile.

**_How many built-in Lava Lamp headboards have you seen?"_**

"Dad had made once one, it is pretty neat." Mich spoke up while the others looked at him before turning back to the book.

**_"Not too many."_**

**_"That's right!"_**

**_"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "What are you doing?"_**

"And my niece just proved my point." Hermes said while Annabeth did not know if she should blush or groan.

**_"Don't mind her," I told Procrustes. "She's impossible."_**

Annabeth raised her eyebrow, because she was not sure if that comment was an act or he was referring to the way she had acted with him during most of the duration of this book, she hoped for the former.

**_The giant laughed. "All my customers are. Never six feet exactly. So inconsiderate. And then they complain about the fitting."_**

"Oh yes, those inconsiderate costumers." Reyna said sarcastically.

**_"What do you do if they're longer than six feet?"_**

"Ugh…" come it from those who knew exactly what he does.

**_"Oh, that happens all the time. It's a simple fix."_**

**_He let go of my neck, but before I could react, he reached behind a nearby sales desk and brought out a huge double-bladed brass axe._**

"It is good for a quick and clean cut." come it from Ares, Clarisse and Ace which made the god look pleased at his daughter and grandson while the others paled.

"Lee, can you later on check Chris for head injuries?" Travis whispered to Lee.

"I will gladly do it." Michael volunteered while his older brother raised an eyebrow at his strange behaviour since they were informed about whom each legacy belongs to.

**_He said, "I just center the subject as best I can and lop off whatever hangs over on either end."_**

**_"Ah," I said, swallowing hard. "Sensible."_**

"Certainly." Dionysus mumbled under his breath and it looked like he was not the only one.

**_"I'm so glad to come across an intelligent customer!"_**

"Good, he is biting on the plan." Athena said, but she would be happier if it would be finished soon.

**_The ropes were really stretching my friends now. Annabeth was turning pale. Grover made gurgling sounds, like a strangled goose._**

Everyone winched at this.

"At least you only got the ropes and not the axe." Connor said weakly.

"That is only a small pro regards our situation." Annabeth said, they will be certainly avoiding this experience and start right away with the plan Percy is currently presenting.

**_"So, Crusty ..." I said, trying to keep my voice light. I glanced at the sales tag on the valentine-shaped Honeymoon Special. "Does this one really have dynamic stabilizers to stop wave motion?"_**

**_"Absolutely. Try it out."_**

Everyone tensed.

**_"Yeah, maybe I will. But would it work even for a big guy like you? No waves at all?"_**

**_"Guaranteed."_**

**_"No way."_**

**_"Way."_**

**_"Show me."_**

"Really good." Odysseus said approvingly.

**_He sat down eagerly on the bed, patted the mattress. "No waves. See?"_**

**_I snapped my fingers. _****_"Ergo."_**

Everyone leaned forth in their seats to hear if it had worked.

**_Ropes lashed around Crusty and flattened him against the mattress._**

There was a round of cheers at this, Percy had done it.

"Outwitted for a second time by one of his younger brothers." Perseus said smiling as Theseus shifted in his seat with a small smile on his lips.

**_"Hey!" he yelled._**

**_"Center him just right," I said._**

**_The ropes readjusted themselves at my command. Crusty's whole head stuck out the top. His feet stuck out the bottom._**

**_"No!" he said. "Wait! This is just a demo."_**

A round of laughs erupted from those in and outside of the palace.

"I would more call this a payback." Octavian said grinning which made everyone laugh even more.

"Nice one Octavian." Dakota told the blonde who did his best not to blush.

**_I uncapped Riptide. "A few simple adjustments ..."_**

Cue more laughter.

**_I had no qualms about what I was about to do. If Crusty were human, I couldn't hurt him anyway. If he was a monster, he deserved to turn into dust for a while._**

There were several nods of agrement at this.

**_"You drive a hard bargain," he told me. "I'll give you thirty percent off on selected floor models.'"_**

"Won't work." Annabeth said, glad that she will be out of that mess.

**_"I think I'll start with the top." I raised my sword._**

**_"No money down! No interest for six months!"_**

**_I swung the sword. Crusty stopped making offers._**

"Good, and now get Annabeth and Grover." Katie said while said daughter of Athena nodded her head in agreement to that statement.

**_I cut the ropes on the other beds. Annabeth and Grover got to their feet, groaning and wincing and cursing me a lot._**

Everyone looked confused at Annabeth seeing that Grover was not with them.

"What is the problem?" Jake asked in confusion.

**_"You look taller," I said._**

**_"Very funny," Annabeth said. "Be faster next time."_**

"You know that this was the fastest way Percy could help you, right?" Lee asked the blushing girl who cursed her own stubbornness.

**_I looked at the bulletin board behind Crusty's sales desk. There was an advertisement for Hermes Delivery Service, and another for the All-New Compendium of L.A. Area Monsters—"The only Monstrous Yellow Pages you'll ever need!"_**

"Erm…that is nice to know that there is such a thing and now we know how you will find the DOA studios." Frank said blinking, first Tartaros had an extension number, the Underworld a building address and now monsters their own Yellow Pages.

**_Under that, a bright orange flier for DOA Recording Studios, offering commissions for heroes' souls. "We are always looking for new talent!" DOA's address was right underneath with a map._**

At this looked everyone blinking over to Hades and Persephone before turning to either Henry or Enysswe when seeing the pair shake their heads in confusion.

"That had at that time been uncle William's idea." Enysswe said while some still looked a bit confused so she elaborated for them. "William Shakespeare, a son of Apollo who had been an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He was also often called England's national poet and by the title the "Bard of Avon". Beside some collaborations he did with others had he made thirty-eight plays one of them the love drama Romeo and Juliet had been mentioned by the love tunnel ride, one hundred fifty four sonnets and two long narrative poems beside some few verses. Most of his plays have been translated into any major language and are rather preferred by people in modern times. He is currently one of the Underworld Judges seeing how thanks to the increasing workload had Minos, Aiacos and Rhadamanthys a hard time getting tings settled regards who goes where and so grandfather decided to allow a few souls who fit a certain criteria to become also Judges to help those three." Enysswe explained not mentioning that her uncle Lee and Silena had a few months ago also accepted to become Judges of the Dead while Apollo felt again happy to hear this, at least seem his children to put some type of positive impression on his uncle.

"Wow, did not know that you could be picked for that." Travis said.

"It is not an easy job to do believe me." En told him while Hades nodded his head in agreement at least will he find a way to make things easier on the Judges.

**_"Come on," I told my friends._**

**_"Give us a minute," Grover complained. "We were almost stretched to death.'"_**

**_"Then you're ready for the Underworld," I said. "It's only a block from here."_**

"That is nice to know, at least will they not need to continue searching blindly." Pan said while Persephone took the book form her mother.

"Seeing that they will be soon arriving in our kingdom is it fitting that I'm the one reading this." she said as she ignored the dark look her mother was giving to her father while Hades smiled at her. Apollo on the other hand wanted to sigh so he did not notice Aphrodite raise an eyebrow, she had again felt that spark by the thrones, but still had no clue from whom it come from and at whom it was directed at.

"So, what is the next title sis?" Hermes asked his half-sister who flipped the book to the right chapter.

"The next chapter is called **_"Annabeth Does Obedience School,_**_"._" she read while the others looked confused.

"Isn't obedience school something on which people bring their dogs to get them trained to follow commands like 'sit', 'stay' and such?" asked a slightly confused looking Felix.

"Yes it is." Annabeth answered back while Persephone smiled.

"So you will be meeting Cerberus this chapter." she said happily while most of the others paled and did not exactly share her enthusiasm about the trio meeting a huge three-headed dog.

_To be continued…_


	18. Let's play fetch

A/N: well the storm is over and the street in front of my apartment building is for the second time slightly under water, well still better then on some part at home seeing how my mom will for a few days only be able to reach her workplace by boat, at least is the water out of their lobby.

Also here will be the theme regards the Crusades brought up and other aspects so don't feel offended by those sentences or just skip them, I gave an info about the fact that it will stand in the fic anything other is your doing.

* * *

XVIII. Let's play fetch

Persephone could really not understand why some people looked pale, Cerberus was a cute dog, sure he was also a vicious guardian, that she admits, but seeing how the three will be alive in the future they got through. Also she was starting to have a guess why Athena's daughter may be visiting them sometimes on her own, at lest will she get over her prejustice towards her husband.

**_We stood in the shadows of Valencia Boulevard, looking up at gold letters etched in black marble: DOA RECORDING STUDIOS._**

"Those two colours usually look really elegant together." Silena mused to herself, but she guessed that here this was partly to represent that Lord Hades was both the God of Death and Riches.

**_Underneath, stenciled on the glass doors: NO SOLICITORS. NO LOITERING. NO LIVING._**

"The last part can not be seen by mortals." Henry pointed out with a grin.

"I would be worried if they could see it." Will said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.

**_It was almost midnight,_**

"The best time to want for someone to go to the Underworld." Silena said with a shudder.

"Thank you for the reminder." Annabeth said, she was still worried about meeting Cerberus.

**_but the lobby was brightly lit and full of people. Behind the security desk sat a tough-looking guard with sunglasses and an earpiece._**

En grinned at the mentioning of her granduncle.

**_I turned to my friends. "Okay. You remember the plan."_**

**_Annabeth said, "What happens if the plan doesn't work?"_**

"We can only hope that it works, whatever it is." Malcolm told his sister.

**_"Don't think negative."_**

**_"Right," she said. "We're entering the Land of the Dead, and I shouldn't think negative."_**

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, mostly those who had been down there.

**_I took the pearls out of my pocket, the three milky spheres the Nereid had given me in Santa Monica. They didn't seem like much of a backup in case something went wrong._**

Those who knew what those pearls could do started grinning; they were a good enough backup to get away.

**_Annabeth put her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Percy. You're right, we'll make it. It'll be fine."_**

"Good, think positive." Gwen said encouragingly though Poseidon, Athena and Pan still looked slightly pale. The only ground Dionysus was calm was because he knew that his uncle was fair in most of his regards, beside that according to the legacies being here and mentioning all three in the present tense they got out.

**_She gave Grover a nudge._**

There were a few small snickers at this.

**_"Oh, right!" he chimed in. "We got this far. We'll find the master bolt and save your mom. No problem."_**

"Let me guess, he didn't sound exactly convincing." Chris said while looking at the legacies.

"He certainly didn't." come the reply form his son.

**_I looked at them both, and felt really grateful. Only a few minutes before, I'd almost gotten them stretched to death on deluxe water beds,_**

"Please don't remind me." Annabeth said with a shake of her head, she will make sure that they leave out that experience in the future.

**_and now they were trying to be brave for my sake, trying to make me feel better._**

"We kind of owe you for saving us." Annabeth mumbled, she was really glad that Percy had been with them.

**_I slipped the pearls back in my pocket. "Let's whup some Underworld butt."_**

Hades rolled his eyes while Ace leaned closer to Lance.

"That one will have to wait till the fifth book." he whispered to his cousin who nodded his head, that part will be epic.

**_We walked inside the DOA lobby._**

Here Persephone stopped a frown on her beautiful face.

"I find the description how it looks nice, but anything other…" here she turned to her father and uncle while giving them a cold glare. "Stop making my husband's life even harder then it already is." she snapped at the perplexed pair before continuing, her step-grandchildren and the legacies meanwhile nodded their heads in agreement at the statement while Hades started massaging his forehead as he readied himself for the next lines.

**_Music played softly on hidden speakers._**

Apollo and his kids had some smiles on their lips, that didn't sound as a bad start.

"To bad that this had not been installed when I went down there." he whispered to Enysswe who turned her head a bit to look at him.

"Installing that in this time would have been a bit complicated and poising a band on the side of Styx would have looked weird." she whispered back. _'Beside that uncle Josef kind of went with the idea and people regard this as morbid which the Underworld can already be on its own.'_ she added in for herself.

**_The carpet and walls were steel gray. Pencil cactuses grew in the corners like skeleton hands. The furniture was black leather,_**

"Well, in a way it kind of sounds classy." Chris said carefully.

**_and every seat was taken._**

"I already find the start of this part dreadful." Hades groaned and he just knew that it would be worse, mostly after his wife gave him a sympathetic look, the others looked just confused.

**_There were people sitting on couches, people standing up, people staring out the windows or waiting for the elevator. Nobody moved, or talked, or did much of anything. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see them all just fine, but if I focused on any one of them in particular, they started looking ... transparent. I could see right through their bodies._**

"Well, that kind of sounds crowded." Connor said while Hades bit back another groan.

"No need to tell me demigod, each passed away soul creates paperwork which depending on their life, age and death moves between sixty to one hundred twenty pages which all need to be read and signed one after another and there are cases which bring twenty extra pages to look through." Hades explained in a pained tone while everyone stared at him gapping.

"Brother…just kind of how many pages do you look through each day…?" Poseidon asked carefully, even one the worst days in Atlantis was his paperwork together counted not more then like two hundred pages.

"On a good day? One thousand fifty-two, on a bad day like after war the double amount with additional tasks which require from me to do some field work to solve the problems like taking a seat as one of the Judges and such." Hades answered back at which Poseidon flinched while Persephone gave them a new glare before she continued reading.

"I would go mad having to read and write so much." Travis whispered to Connor who nodded his head.

**_The security guard's desk was a raised podium, so we had to look up at him._**

* * *

**_He was tall and elegant, with chocolate-coloured skin and bleached-blond hair shaved military style. _**

"Charon." said all children of the Night Goddess in union after hearing the description.

"Poor guy needs to do overtime again with Thanatos." Eris said while shaking her head, that incident with Atlantis put an effective stop to ending their shifts early.

**_He wore tortoiseshell shades and a silk Italian suit that matched his hair. A black rose was pinned to his lapel under a silver name tag._**

"I don't know what the outfit is he is wearing, but it is nice that he keeps to his habit to always have one of mother's roses with him." Nemesis said with a fond smile on her lips, she really could not remember a time when she had seen her older brother without a black rose from their mother's garden.

"He was always adamant to have one of them with him." Hemera agreed, it had been cute watching the small dark skinned toddler trail behind their mother with one of his little hands holding onto her dark blue-violet dress, emboldened with stars and constellations, while in the other he gripped a black coloured rose.

**_I read the name tag, then looked at him in bewilderment. "Your name is Chiron?"_**

A good deal of jaws dropped at this sentence.

"He did not just say that…" Aether groaned, Charon was a really patient child, but he really hated it if someone confused his name with that of Chiron due to the one letter difference in them.

The rest of his siblings groaned in agreement and hoped that he will not react too badly; it usually depended on who made that mistake and in which situation that happened or if it was simply a slip of the tongue due to the likeliness of the names. By the later one he tended to brush it of in a matter of seconds and be his usual self again, well also depending if you were family or not, he was much more affectionate towards the former.

**_He leaned across the desk. I couldn't see anything in his glasses except my own reflection, but his smile was sweet and cold, like a pythons, right before it eats you._**

"Ok, he is taking his age into consideration and will not snap." Geras said with a sigh, he was sure that if the boy would have been older then his twelve years his brother would have reacted much worse to the comparison, it may be that they had not quick tempers like the third and fourth generations gods descending from their aunt the Earth Goddess, but it could be more dangerous if someone irked their wrath.

**_"What a precious young lad." He had a strange accent—British, maybe, but also as if he had learned English as a second language. "Tell me, mate, do I look like a centaur?"_**

It was really difficult for most of the divinities and spirits to not let out a small chuckle at this.

"I really hope not or that dance would be pretty problematic." Melinoe giggled, before realizing her slipup.

"Dance?" Zagreus asked his sister suspiciously while Macaria looked on curiously.

"Erm…it is nothing I once only did some scare with a ghost fest on that judge who you remember always picked death sentences even if a deed was not proven." she explained hurriedly, but her brother looked not fazed.

"Again, when will you go dancing with Charon." this time it was not a question, he will have a chat with the ferryman regards his sister pretty soon.

"Leave her alone Zagreus." Macaria finally spoke up as she pulled at her brother's arm while giving her elder sister a beaming smile which made her blush.

**'****_Great, I will be having a long chat with mother and father after either of those two get a hold on them, please Fates let it be Macaria telling mother and not Zag getting to father first.'_**** she thought in dismay, she really should have not opened her mouth a few minutes ago. **

**_"N-no."_**

**_"Sir," he added smoothly._**

**_"Sir," I said._**

**_He pinched the name tag and ran his finger under the letters. "Can you read this, mate? It says C-H_****_-A-_****_R-O-N. Say it with me: CARE-ON."_**

Melinoe was perfectly aware about the fact that her brother was still looking at her suspiciously, she really wanted to hit herself for letting it slip that Charon had invited her to a dance which will be held in Athens to celebrate her mother's return to the living world. It had not been the ground for the party that she had agreed, but more for the one inviting her…she really wanted to groan regards her blunder.

**_"Charon."_**

**_"Amazing! Now: _****_Mr. _****_Charon."_**

**_"Mr. Charon," I said. _**

"I think he noticed that Percy panicked from him." Aether said as he shook his head.

"Well, at least he is over it now which is good, I doubt those three wish to see him angry, it is not positive when directed at you." Hemera pointed out, the last time Charon had been really furious was when that disgraceful mortal trapped Thanatos, they all had been enraged for that deed and went out to search for him. Ares had at that time unknowingly saved that mortal from the terror they all would have inflicted on him for they did not hesitate in their punishments for those wronging one of their closest kin.

**_"Well done." He sat back. "I _****_hate _****_being confused with that old horse-man. _**

All of his present siblings, nephew and niece nodded their heads in agreement at this together with those few unlucky who did that confusion at least once in their immortal lives… well you don't really want to repeat that mistake to often if you know what his healthy for you.

* * *

"See, this is how he learned the difference in the first hand." Sally told her grandfather smiling who at least took his hand from his heart.

"Though he is lucky to have got only a correction, grand-uncle really despised the misuse of his name." Enysswe said while shaking her head.

"He is not the only one." Chiron said, he thought that their jobs and beings would certainly help separate them, but alas that was not the case.

**_And now, how may I help you little dead ones?"_**

"At least he has manners." Hera said remembering the time Zeus decided to put up an entrance guard to the gates of Olymphos, let's just say that after a week she had given her husband and ultimatum to either fire him form that post or she would use the Master Bolt to blast the guard to shreds.

**_His question caught in my stomach like a fastball. I looked at Annabeth for support._**

"I thought that you guys had a plan?" Katie said while turning to the legacies.

"That plan kind of got unexpected changes after that question startled them, really he is there to help out the souls so of course he would ask." Henry said while shaking his head while those who had travelled down there and meet Charon nodded their heads.

**_"We want to go the Underworld," she said._**

**_Charon's mouth twitched. "Well, that's refreshing."_**

"Certainly agree with him, most souls either protest, get hysteric, start crying, pleading, bribing, a few amusingly even threaten or try to run away, I should not even mention some reactions to Thanatos, beside the occasional flirting attempts to get out, or the Keres." Hades said, he hated such complications, but they were everyday happenings. "To get a soul willingly wanting to come is once every hundred years."

"I certainly agree, Sisyphus should be more then happy that we were lenient after his actions and he was not thrown directly into Tartaros after his trickery." Persephone hissed in annoyance while Enysswe and Henry glared at their laps, the Queen hated those who appealed to her kindness and it becomes apparent that they had used her.

"I agree with you." Hades told his wife who gave him a small smile before turning her gaze back to the book, but then Frank held up his hand.

"Uh…did you just say that some flirt with Death?" he asked in slightly bewilderment, the other demigods seemed to share his view.

"You will get your answer dad in the seventh book." Henry said, he had meet his cousin's granduncle pretty often and he really needed to admit that he was good looking, but due to his busy job does he not exactly find time to look around for a partner for any term of time.

**_"It is?" she asked._**

"We were informed that it certainly is." Travis said still a bit unsure how someone would find Death attractive.

**_"Straightforward and honest. No screaming. No 'There must be a mistake, Mr. Charon.' _**

"That happens at least sixty times if it is a good day." Hades said while everyone was looking at him, the gods did not exactly know of these troubles in the Underworld.

**_He looked us over. "How did you die, then?"_**

**_I nudged Grover._**

"I think one of you should have said something." Persephone said blinking after reading the next upcoming line, some satyrs are really terrible at this as it seems.

**_"Oh," he said. "Um ... drowned ... in the bathtub."_**

There was a dead silence at the statement before Hermes and his kids flung their hands to their hearts while groaning in a despaired tone.

"I don't care what anyone says, boys you _**will**_ theach that satyr how to lie." Hermes gasped in utter mortification at such a ridiculous thing to say from all the perfect opportunities.

"You can bet on that dad." Chris said, seeing how Travis was frozen down and Katie was trying to get a reaction from him, Connor and Trickster on the other hand outright fainted while by the couch not far from them were the heroes of old looking nervously at a pale Odysseus.

"Please tell me someone adds in something believable and intelligent." Clarisse said in an unbelieving tone.

"Against this was Percy's 'circus caravan' comment more believable." Octavian pointed out as he shook his head, somehow he doubted that they would be standing in front a dense deity.

"I hope that he does not take Charon for an idiot." Hades said while looking unbelievingly at the book.

"I know that there are some weird deaths, but seriously?" Lance whispered to Ace.

**_"All three of you?" Charon asked._**

"Please something believable." Hermes pleaded as outside the others braced themselves that this could only go downwards from here, no pun intended.

"He has heard even at that time about some ridiculous incidents, but the fact that he wants elaboration means that he is suspicious." Enysswe informed while Hades nodded his head remembering the embarrassing death of a man who wanted to flee from his lover's bedroom, but slipped while hastily trying to get dressed, fell out of the window still mostly naked and landed right on the spear of the returning husband.

"Ugh…I hope that we say something other." Annabeth groaned, she could not believe that from all things Grover said that they drowned in a bathtub.

**_We nodded._**

"Forget it." Hermes groaned together with the others while Pan patted his father's hand in reassurance.

**_"Big bathtub." Charon looked mildly impressed._**

"At least he seems to find your lie entertaining." Persephone said, she had known Charon long enough to know how to determine his reactions and not let herself be fooled.

"At least there is that." Poseidon said sighing, the children were close to solving the problem though really that comment from the young satyr…

**_"_****_I don't suppose you have coins for passage. _**

Hades suddenly tensed in his throne while the others looked at the book strangely.

**_Normally, with adults, you see, I could charge your American Express, or add the ferry price to your last cable bill. _**

"At least I will have this positive fact then hoping while looking up if the deceased had any uncleared debts when such trouble arose." Hades said sighing in relief, at least this part would not be that troublesome, but he knew that this is only a small comfort.

"So, this is why." Michael said in a thoughtful tone, his stepfather was a lawyer and he had often cases where such irregularities in the finances of a dead person appeared and no one had a clue what it was bout.

"Only a small comfort." En said sighing.

"Somehow I had felt it." Hades replied back while the other gods looked back and forth between them, to be honest they really had not clue beside Persephone what is going on down there.

**_But with children ... alas, you never die prepared. Suppose you'll have to take a seat for a few centuries."_**

Before anyone could comment regards this Hades spoke up in a pained tone.

"How much?" he asked while others looked confused.

"You needed to raise the rotation time for such cases, due to the ancient rites being vastly ignored, to three hundred years, this was the shortest manageable time." Enysswe told him while Hades nodded his head, Persephone gently touched his hand to show her support before she continued reading.

**_"Oh, but we have coins." I set three golden drachmas on the counter, part of the stash I'd found in Crusty's office desk. _**

"Good boy." Hermes said approvingly, his mood was slowly raising thanks to his cousin.

"That will tip him of that something is not right." Hades pointed out, but did not elaborate and some were even still mulling about what was meant by 'rotation time'.

**_"Well, now ..." Charon moistened his lips. "Real drachmas. Real golden drachmas. I haven't seen these in ..." _**

"A really long time and this will tip him of seeing that there is only one possibility how three children could be in possession of those." Hades said while hoping that they will find out how to work with Charon's instincts regards the price of their travel through the river, he took the rules regards that more then serious and held himself to them.

**_His fingers hovered greedily over the coins._**

"His instincts started reacting to the fact that you presented him with the payment." Enysswe explained, most people tended to confuse it with greed, but that was actually not the case by him it was purely instinct.

**_We were so close._**

**_Then Charon looked at me. _**

"Let us guess, he has a way to check on his suspicion." Jay said while massaging his forehead, he agreed whith Percy, they were so close.

"In a way yes, he can and seeing how he had alrady encontered demigods going on a quest down there." Hades said while Orpheus, Hercules and Odysseus had sheepish smiles on their lips and Dionysus concentrated on the small wine plant he had made in his hand.

"Well, if they had brought more of the coins with them then they can use Charon's instincts to get thorugh, they kind of make him unable to refuse payment." Persephone said.

"Huh, what type of instincts are those?" asked a confused Dakota, sure payment was not bad, but not being able to refuse?

"It is a nature he had been born with, all of Lady Nyx's children were born to fill a certain role unlike most of the gods now who find their nature while groving up they had it already with them. This means that Charon had born to fulfill the task as the ferryman of the Underworld and that binds him to bring those over who can pay while making those who can't wait out a certain amount of time." Hades explained before adding. "Most people who are not in clear about this trait of the Night Goddess's children may missinterupt it as simply greed, thoug it is not the case regards him." he finished explaining while everyone nodded carefully when Athena spoke up, her gray eyes on her uncle.

"Uncle, would it be possible for the two of us to sit down sometime and talk about these tings for I don't remember having read about this in the lybrary." she siad while Hades nodded to her, he did not turst his voice at the moment after a second of his nieces wished to freely spend time around him. "Wonderful, I have many questions I wish to discuss with you." Athena said happily she had not known that her uncle knew such informations and she really wished to know more.

"You will certainly be speaking with the Premodials Zeus or if you still refuse, then with your daughter after she finishes talking with our borhter." Hera whispered harshly to Zeus.

**_That cold stare behind his glasses seemed to bore a hole through my chest._**

**B**oth Zeus and Hermes visibly shuddered at this which made others look at them strangely, Hercules could hide his own shudder for he had seen a similar look on Death's face when he stopped him.

"He has inherited his mother's look." Hermes explained with a shudder as he remembered those icy indigo coloured eyes dotted with silver and violet.

"Actually all of her children and grandchildren have inherited that look, it certainly gets to people." Enysswe said smirking as she noted the nods of agreement from those who had seen that look before.

"Well, at least you know to not annoy either of your lovers." Michael whispered to Will who was glad that at least this time he could keep himself from blushing at the reminder that he will be in the future together with two guys.

**_"Here now," he said. "You couldn't read my name correctly. Are you dyslexic, lad?"_**

**_"No," I said. "I'm dead."_**

Cue groans.

"As stated beforehand, I hope that they don't think that he is an idiot." Hades repeated as he shook his head, now he really hoped that they will work on his instinct regards the payment.

"At least we know that they had gone through." Katie said while turning back to Travis, she was slowly getting worried that he still didn't react, but at least was not out cold like Connor and Trickster were.

**_Charon leaned forward and took a sniff. "You're not dead. I should've known. You're a godling_****."**

"Erm…he can smell the living?" Castor asked carefully.

"He can note the differences seeing how much time he spends around dead and the nature of some of his siblings." Hades informed the young demigod who nodded his head in understanding.

**_"We have to get to the Underworld," I insisted._**

**_Charon made a growling sound deep in his throat._**

"It seems that at that he had not forgiven what was at the time of the twelfth labour." Hestia said softly, she had been the one aiding her nephew at that time to get past the other.

"He certainly didn't feel pleased about another living hero daring to approach him with the idea to bypass, added to it some of the other incidents from a few fools." Hades said, that insulting mortal who thought that he could just waltz into his domain and take his wife had been sorely mistaken and would suffer for that blatant insult for all of eternity, and he was even merciful for not throwing him right into Tartaros when he saw him.

"I'm still apologetic that the task was thus made harder." Hestia told her brother no matter if he tried reassuring her, a part of her was also at fault here and she would not deny it.

**_Immediately, all the people in the waiting room got up and started pacing, agitated, lighting cigarettes, running hands through their hair, or checking their wristwatches._**

"I almost forgot that your mood tends to affect the shades." Persephone said while everyone looked nervous.

"Then getting Caron angry is not the best idea." Apollo said carefully, when Hades and Persephone nodded their heads he held back a sigh, another thing to ad to the list why he needs to try getting this crush down, first his uncle did not seem to be interested in any other divinity in his bed and getting into his realm unnoticed is not even for a got makeable.

Not far away Aphrodite raised her head again, she was not really curious and frustrated about the fact who of the other council members was in love with someone.

**_"Leave while you can," Charon told us. "I'll just take these and forget I saw you."_**

"He is trying to find a way between his option to not deal with them and his instincts." Hades noted, if now one of them manages to sway him.

"If it would not mean war I would really appreciate what he is doing." Poseidon mumbled to himself, unfortunately he knew that they had no other choice.

**_He started to go for the coins, but I snatched them back._**

"Good, quick hands," Travis said grinning as he finally come back from his shock, though they had till now not much luck with waking Connor and Trickster so they decided to let them come to be on their own.

**_"No service, no tip." I tried to sound braver than I felt._**

"Good, even if he does not know it, but he is now getting closer to sway him." Hades said, usually he would not approve of the misuse of his co-worker's nature, but this was an emergency.

"Good." Orion said grinning when he noticed something form the corner of his eyes. _'Orpheus will certainly be annoyed when he notices that Theseus is drooling on his tunic.' _he thought while trying to hide that he noticed anything.

**_Charon growled again—a deep, blood-chilling sound._**

"I think we heard something similar from his mother…before they pain come." Hermes added the last part carefully while Zeus shuddered at the memory, Hercules kind of did the same, but he had not experienced pain.

"They need to continue fast before he hurts them." Gwen said in a scarred tone.

"Don't worry, he would actually only throw them out, literally." Hades reassured the girl while the others turned to him.

"How do you know?" Demeter asked while her brother narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because I work with him since decades and he does not kill or injure the ones trying to trespass into our realm, he will only do the later if they attack first." Hades told her in a flat tone, he thought that the fact of Charon working for him would be obvious that the two of them had some type of contact.

"Uh…that is good to know." Demeter replied back while averting her eyes, she should have not asked such a stupid question.

**_The spirits of the dead started pounding on the elevator doors._**

"I'm really hoping that Lord Hades is right." Malcolm whispered worriedly to Mitchell who gave him what he hoped to be a reassuring smile, he knew that this was not the time, but he was happy that his lovely Owl was finally interacting with him.

"It will be fine." he told the blonde gently.

**_"It's a shame, too," I sighed. "We had more to offer."_**

"Say kids, is your dad by any chance good at bribery?" Hermes asked the Jackson siblings.

"He is, but only rarely uses that tactic." Luke told the god who turned to Poseidon.

"He got that from his mom, nice pick uncle P" he said grinning before quickly adding as he remembered something "sorry, was not meant as an insult aunt Trite."

"It is fine Hermes, I think till now I'm really managing to stay neutral with that woman and this will only be in millennia." Amphitrite replied which made Poseidon relax somewhat, he really did not wish to see his wife upset, he was terrible with those situations…now that he remembered it only Hestia and Hades seemed to know what to do in those situations.

**_I held up the entire bag from Crusty's stash. I took out a fistful of drachmas and let the coins spill through my fingers._**

"Brilliant kid, I'm certainly proud to have him as my cousin." Hermes said while Travis also grinned with his dad, Percy sounded brilliant.

"I don't know if I should be worried at this or not." Hera whispered to Demeter.

"At least you don't have one of your children married to one of his." she whispered back, first she looses Kore to Hades and now another of her children will marry one of Hermes's, she dreaded to know what that 're-decoration' done to her wheat fields had entailed.

**_Charon's growl changed into something more like a lion's purr. "Do you think I can be bought, godling? Eh ... just out of curiosity, how much have you got there?"_**

"He is still trying to stand against his nature." Persephone said in surprise while exchanging surprised looks with Hades before both turned questioningly to their grandchildren.

"There was a kind of small incident during the XIIth century that the Catholic Church started their so called Crusades to cleanest the world from sinners in the name of their God." Enysswe started in a disgusted tone, she accepted other religions seeing that there were a few Pantheons remaining on this sphere of the world, but that did not mean that she would not give a critique to some things. "Basically they saw other religions below them and tried to destroy them, either you changed willingly or were forced, it that did not get you to give up your original beliefs then those were burned alive." she continued while the gods looked outraged. "The really ironic thing is that they preach that their God loves everyone every person, but they look at the love between same gendered people as sin, those who believe that there is more then one God are sinners and need to be punished if they don't see the right way. They had even set up a court made out of priests called the Inquisition which murdered a record number of people, under them one of their later saints the maiden Jean D'Arc calling her a witch after she had helped them in their fights and set the new kind on the throne." Artemis looked furious at this news. "Their deeds in the so called 'Name of their God' had they left a carnage behind which had caused a massive overloud in the Underworlds of the Pantheons which decided to stay here due to the large number of souls from different age groups who all died before their time. Though the worst was their imagination regards the afterlife and with that idealisticall babbling about if you follow God's will you will surely enter Heaven."

"Right, murdering the records will tell how many people and each of us who rule over the Underworld of the respective juridicism will gladly let them go, I will when that time comes gladly send them immediately to the Isle of the Blest." Hades said sarcastically, those mortals sounded completely ludicrous and were sorely mistaken that he will put them anywhere else then punishment if they are not cowards and flee to Asphodel.

"So after the small summary, some of these idiotic teachings got to the head of a few demigods, whom of course had no clue about their parentage or they would be running like mad to the next church and demand an exorcism or be burned for having been sired in sacrilege by either a devil, an Incubus or their female counterpart the Succubus, both counting as demons. Ah, did I mention that the are saying that the snake is the preferred form of the devil as is the unclean creature the goat?" now looked Pan murderous while the gods who had the snake under their sacred animals looked even more angry as they tried to control their anger, the Roman demigods were just glad that En did not mention that the religion had it's strongest roots in Italy and Old Rome. "So as I was saying they got swayed by the idea and of course being bound to our world found their way to the Underworld and did the idiocy to well…let's just say that granduncle Charon, like all children or my great-grandmother are, not someone you wish to subject their anger upon you, there was a large deal of cleaning needed after that." Hades nodded his head, he could understand now much better why Charon is so adamant about trying to force his own nature back.

"So some of our children will be doing terribly foolish things due to these teachings." Athena concluded.

"The problem is not the belief or their God in itself, one of his followers did beat the House of Life in a magical duel which is saying something, it is mostly the fact that most of those following it seem to not actually be able to understand what is really asked from them due to the fact that their God is mostly passive and rarely interacts in actual words with his followers." Henry took over the explaining. "As En had said, Jean D'Arc herself had been lead by his voice and he had in a way sent his own child to the mortals with a bit of magical help, it would take long to explain how he did it for it would lead us back to some of the ignored ancient methods" Henry said carefully while looking at Zeus who luckily had noticed the glare Enysswe was sending him as a warning to stay put. "And there were a few others, but yes the religion has a good number of things wrong and not many chances to clarify for those who could help were either killed by others whom had enough of the forced religion changing champagain or their own people." he finished with his part of the explaining.

"I really don't know if I want to know more about the future that will come or not." Apollo said, during the explanation had he seen glimpses about bloody wars, unjust judgements, torture and suffering, he still shuddered at the memory of people being nailed with their hands and feed at a strange form which seemed to be a different straight headed version of the Ankh he had seen once when he was younger and strolling much farther away then he should and meet a young girl with dark skin, raven black hair and cat-like eyes.

"Sometimes we don't wish to be part of it, but these are things that can't be changed much." Enysswe told her grandfather who nodded his head at the truth in her words.

"I think we should continue reading, there is probably not much left from the chapter." Misty said while Persephone checked.

"Only nine more pages." she told them.

"Then we should really continue, the book is also soon over." Artemis agreed and Persephone started reading again.

**_"A lot," I said. "I bet Hades doesn't pay you well enough for such hard work."_**

"In any other case I would be angry at this, but it is needed _and_ before someone comments I pay him well and he also keeps half of the payment for the ferry." Hades said when he saw some of the other gods turn in his direction, though even after his explaining they were still looking at him, beside Hermes who in turn was busy staring like him at the others. "What?" he asked in annoyance.

"You pay him?" asked a confused Poseidon, the others minus his aforementioned nephew nodding their heads which on the other hand made Hades raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"Why should I not pay my staff?" he asked, really they are all suffering with him down there and because he can hardly get free time for himself so for getting some for them was almost impossible so he found this as an alternate.

"We should read, daughter if you would please." Demeter told Persephone while both Hades and Hermes looked in confusion at each other, they did not understand the others.

"Why do I think that your dad and Lord Hades are the only ones whose staff gets paid, my dad does not count seeing how he mostly uses automatons and the few Cyclopes in his forges love working to much to want anything other." Jake whispered to Travis seeing how Connor was still out.

"Yup, don't know how the others keep their workers motivated in any other way." Travis whispered back.

**_"Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day? "Oh, you don't know the half of it. How would you like to babysit these spirits all day?_**

Persephone was about to continue when a sudden scream could be heard, startling everyone.

"_YOU WILL NOT HELP HIM WITH THAT JOB IN THE FUTURE!" _

"Didn't that just sound like Zagreus?" Persephone asked her husband as the two exchanged confused glances with eachother.

"After my knowledge is he in the Underworld, you know that the children don't exactly like coming up here." he reassured both her and himself before they turned an accusing look at the some of the other present gods whom squirmed in their seats.

"That is certainly true." Persephone said as she returned to the book so she did not notice Pan letting out a small, relieved sigh, it was not that he had a problem with his cousin, it was only that well... with him being the Lord of the Wild and the other in a way the God of Dead Wild…they kind of clashed.

"What was that about?" Misty whispered harshly to Nathan who used air waves to tune in to the conversation or more like argument outside.

"So, what is it? We were almost caught." Henry whispered to his co-praetor while their guest started relaxing and paying again attention to the book.

"I'm not sure, but your aunt Melinoe may fancy Charon…" Nathan said carefully while he tried not to show that he felt kind of disturbed by that thought.

"Well, that would explain why she goes since a while pretty often up to the lobby to help out with the sprits." Henry replied with a shrug as he turned back to catch the last parts of the sentence which was read.

**…****_three thousand years. Do you imagine suits like this come cheap?"_**

"Ugh…so this chaos is going on since three millennia and what has anything to do with the outfit?" Hades asked in confusion while Nathan, Henry and Misty exchanged fleeting glances with each other, they now kind of had a gues**s. **

**_"You deserve better," I agreed. "A little appreciation. Respect. Good pay."_**

"He gets all three, but the sweet talk will help getting him to give in." Hades said while crossing his arms in front of his chest.

**_With each word, I stacked another gold coin on the counter._**

"That will certainly break his resolve, that guy is brilliant, really if we would not have been confirmed that he is uncle P's I would think that he is mine." Hermes said grinning.

"I don't know which of you would be worse to en up being his father." Athena mumbled to herself, but Ares heard her and leaned closer.

"Well, you certainly like his grandson." he whispered to the blushing goddess.

"Shut up." she hissed at him.

"Only stated a fact." replied Ares grinning while leaning away from his still blushing and glaring half-sister.

**_Charon glanced down at his silk Italian jacket, as if imagining himself in something even better. "I must say, lad, you're making some sense now. Just a little."_**

"Good, he is finally giving in, that took a while." Hermes said while everyone crossed their fingers in anticipation.

**_I stacked another few coins. "I could mention a pay raise while I'm talking to Hades."_**

Silence.

"Erm…that on the other hand would not be a wise idea to say…" Apollo said carefully, from the tibbits of information they had heard here from Hades, Persephone, their grandchildren and even Nathan would the dark haired god not be in the best of moods when they see him.

"Percy…" Poseidon and his awake sons whined while Theseus let out a whimpering sound as Orpheus pulled away from him with a slightly appealed look on his face when he finally noticed the drool moistening his tunic.

"Great something tells me that he will ask, I only hope that in that moment he had sent out my daughter from the room they are talking in." Athena grumbled as said daughter slapped her forehead.

"And Grover." Pan piped in, that young satyr was really brave to go to the Underworld so he did not want for him to get hurt even though he needed to admit that Hades could be reasonable, if not furious that is.

**_He sighed. "The boat's almost full, anyway. I might as well add you three and be off."_**

There were some cheers at this.

"Man, he is really good at holding himself back now that is for sure." Hermes said as he looked at Apollo.

"You would have jumped the minute someone set that sack on your desk." he told his brother teasingly.

"Would have not, it would have disappeared with me even before it touched wood." Hermes replied back grinning, but on the inside was he busy planning, first he will be making sure that Pan is never without someone to keep an eye on his and then he will talk with Artemis seeing how during the reading he noticed even more strange reactions from Apollo and he wanted to know what was wrong with his favourite half-sibling.

**_He stood, scooped up our money, and said, "Come along."_**

The demigods leaned a bit closer in their seats as well as the Chases in morbid curiosity.

**_We pushed through the crowd of waiting spirits, who started grabbing at our clothes like the wind, their voices whispering things I couldn't make out._**

"Your godly parent needs to posses a death aspect to their nature for you to understand them." Persephone explained before adding in a thoughtful tone. "The same goes also for divinities with me as an exception seeing that I' am their queen." she said with a happy smile at with Demeter scowled at Zeus while Apollo looked at his lap..

**_Charon shoved them out of the way, grumbling, "Freeloaders."_**

**_He escorted us into the elevator, which was already crowded with souls of the dead, each one holding a green boarding pass. Charon grabbed two spirits who were trying to get on with us and pushed them back into the lobby._**

**_"Right. Now, no one get any ideas while I'm gone," he announced to the waiting room. "And if anyone moves the dial off my easy-listening station again, I'll make sure you're here for another thousand years. Understand?" _**

"Uh…could he do that?" asked Dakota carefully.

"In a way he could seeing how the decision for the length of the rotation's time is an agreement between the two of us regards how we can manage the numbers and he work they bring, but I would say that was more of an empty threat seeing that from what I have heard mortals in your time have mostly forgotten the old tales and the rules of the Underworld." Hades answered.

**_He shut the doors. He put a key card into a slot in the elevator panel and we started to descend._**

"Even getting down to the Underworld is changed in the future." Hercules whispered to Odysseus who nodded his head, in his option some things become more dangerous like the Lotus Eaters, Medusa and the Stretcher seeing how they took on lairs which are normal and an everyday sight to the mortals.

**_"What happens to the spirits waiting in the lobby?" Annabeth asked._**

**_"Nothing," Charon said._**

"That is true, they will wait till the rotation's time is up." Persephone said with a nod of her head while the Chases looked uneasy, the demigods on the other hand felt thankful that they still remembered and used the ancient rites.

**_"For how long?"_**

**_"Forever, or until I'm feeling generous." _**

"And now he is toying with you." Persephone said with a small smile on her lips, she guessed Charon had noted from her eyes that she was Athena's and due to the question he knew that she had no clue regards the goings of the Underworld and is now having a bit fun.

"So nice to know, I will not ask that question in our future." Annabeth said, she knew how that answer and her lack of knowledge about the rotation's time will make her nervous.

**_"Oh," she said. "That's ... fair."_**

**_Charon raised an eyebrow. "Whoever said death was fair, young miss?_**

"That is true, the judgement of the Underworld is fair, but death isn't mostly in the eyes of mortals who even then don't grasp it's meaning when someone passes whose time had ended." Enysswe said in agreement to her granduncle's words.

**_Wait until it's your turn. _**

The legacies held back smirks, only one word was that separates her from this not happening.

**_You'll die soon enough, where you're going."_**

"He tells that to every hero going down there to scare them." the heroes who had gone down there said in union, it had certainly affected them in a way.

**_"We'll get out alive," I said._**

**_"Ha."_**

**_I got a sudden dizzy feeling. We weren't going down anymore, but forward._**

There were a few confused blinks towards the book.

**_The air turned misty. Spirits around me started changing shape. Their modern clothes flickered, turning into gray hooded robes._**

"This is the outfit everyone wears till their judgement is done." Hades said with a nod, pleased that things started sounding familiar again.

**_The floor of the elevator began swaying._**

**_I blinked hard. When I opened my eyes, Charon's creamy Italian suit had been replaced by a long black robe. His tortoiseshell glasses were gone. Where his eyes should've been were empty sockets—like Ares's eyes, except Charon's were totally dark, full of night and death and despair._**

Everyone who had meet Charon nodded their heads while those who didn't like the demigods and Chase family paled slightly.

"To be hones each child of Nyx seems to have the night aspect to their eyes." Artemis spoke up, she had liked Nemesis's eyes, they seemed to shine like the night sky when she was happy, it made her sad that her friend was avoiding her. _'Dumb, irresponsible father.'_

**_He saw me looking, and said, "Well?"_**

**_"Nothing," I managed._**

"He found that reaction amusing." Enysswe pointed out.

**_I thought he was grinning, but that wasn't it. The flesh of his face was becoming transparent, letting me see straight through to his skull._**

More paling.

"And you will be related to him in the future." Michael told his little brother who wanted to hit him, there was really no need to point it out to him.

**_The floor kept swaying._**

**_Grover said, "I think I'm getting seasick."_**

**_When I blinked again, the elevator wasn't an elevator anymore. We were standing in a wooden barge. Charon was poling us across a dark, oily river,_**

Here Persephone stopped, her eyes narrowing at what she had read.

**_swirling with bones, dead fish, and other, stranger things—plastic dolls, crushed car nations, soggy diplomas with gilt edges._**

There was a new round of silence then Hades jumped from his throne while outside the old gods and primordial's broke out in shocked and angry yells which this time were kept out from the palace due to Nathan's power.

"What happened to the Styx?!" the Lord of the Underworld yelled in indignation while the other gods and the heroes of old looked also shocked.

"It will be explained in a few minutes grandfather." Henry said in a tight tone, he hated how polluted the Styx looked.

**_"The River Styx," Annabeth murmured. "It's so ..."_**

**_"Polluted," Charon said. "For thousands of years, you humans have been throwing in everything as you come across—hopes, dreams, _**

With each word the heroes, mortal family and the demigods flinched while Hades looked annoyed.

**_wishes that never came true. Irresponsible waste management, if you ask me."_**

"Most morals give up to easily or delay things till it is to late and then it all gets thrown into the Styx." Henry said bitterly while motioning to his step-grandmother to please continue, the others meanwhile looked either appealed or were starring at their laps.

**_Mist curled off the filthy water. Above us, almost lost in the gloom, was a ceiling of stalactites. Ahead, the far shore glimmered with greenish light, the color of poison._**

Will did his best to not show his interest, he had just remembered that in the future will he be residing in this place often so it would not be bad to pay attention.

**_Panic closed up my throat. What was I doing here? These people around me ... they were dead._**

"This is a normal reaction for those not living in the Underworld, visiting it often or being with someone who delves there, in a way a last warning to turn around, but if you ignore it then it will go away." Henry pointed out to the others who nodded their heads in understanding, Will also looked relaxed that he will not be freaking out then when he goes down there for the first time.

"At least you give a final chance to return." Artemis said while looking at her uncle.

"Charon is instructed if such a visitor wants to turn around that he should take them back, but if not then what happens further is their own decision and not ours." Hades told his niece who nodded in approval.

**_Annabeth grabbed hold of my hand._**

Under any other circumantes would Athena feel annoyed, but she guessed why her daughter did that and seeing how Aphrodite was only having a small smile on her lips she also seemed to have gotten it.

**_Under normal circumstances, this would've embarrassed me, but I understood how she felt. She wanted reassurance that somebody else was alive on this boat._**

Again the demigods and mortal family shuddered while the heroes of old, even if never admitting it in the open, agreed that they would have felt also more reassured if someone would have been with them as they descended down there.

**_I found myself muttering a prayer, though I wasn't quite sure who I was praying to. Down here, only one god mattered, and he was the one I had come to confront._**

"Well there are also other gods, but I think most of them would also not be ones you want to pray to in your situation." Hades said while Poseidon started muttering a prayer on his own in hopes that Percy's first meeting with his brother didn't go too much down hill.

**_The shoreline of the Underworld came into view. Craggy rocks and black volcanic sand stretched inland about a hundred yards to the base of a high stone wall, which marched off in either direction as far as we could see. A sound came from somewhere nearby in the green gloom, echoing off the stones—the howl of a large animal._**

"Cerberus." the two rulers of the Underworld and the legacies said fondly.

**_"Old Three-Face is hungry," Charon said. His smile turned skeletal in the greenish light. "Bad luck for you, godlings."_**

Hercules certainly remembered those lines, as well as the vicious dog who tried eating him.

**_The bottom of our boat slid onto the black sand. The dead began to disembark. A woman holding a little girl's hand._**

A good deal of people flinched while the rulers of the Underworld exchanged a small glance, they were already used to this.

**_An old man and an old woman hobbling along arm in arm._**

Hera, Aphrodite and her children had soft smiles on their lips.

**_A boy no older than I was, shuffling silently along in his gray robe._**

And people went back to flinching.

'_And my daughter is queen over…this…' _Demeter thought in dismay.

**_Charon said, "I'd wish you luck, mate, but there isn't any down here._**

"True, in the Underworld is everything based on your deeds, meaning you are basically facing all consequences of each of your actions." Persephone explained while outside Tyche nodded her head, she had no power in the Underworld.

**_Mind you, don't forget to mention my pay raise."_**

"I think he should forget about it." Felix said worriedly, not liking the thought that there was a place about which her mother had no control in regards luck.

**_He counted our golden coins into his pouch, then took up his pole. He warbled something that sounded like a Barry Manilow song as he ferried the empty barge back across the river._**

**_We followed the spirits up a well-worn path._**

**_I'm not sure what I was expecting—Pearly Gates, or a big black portcullis, _**

"Why would I have that?" Hades asked in confusion, but no one could answer.

**_or something. But the entrance to the Underworld looked like a cross between airport security and the Jersey Turnpike._**

"Eh?" the demigods and the mortal family were confused after hearing this, they had also imagined something else.

"The changes were needed to deal…or at least try dealing with the newcomers." Enysswe said while Hades bit back a groan.

**_There were three separate entrances under one huge black archway that said YOU ARE NOW ENTERING EREBUS. Each entrance had a pass-through metal detector with security cameras mounted on top. Beyond this were tollbooths manned by black-robed ghouls like Charon._**

**_The howling of the hungry animal was really loud now, but I couldn't see where it was coming from. The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who was supposed to guard Hades's door, was nowhere to be seen._**

"That is because you see him only when you are close to death." Hercules said carefully.

"Ugh…nice information." Beckendorf said.

"Meaning, be happy as long as you only hear him." Silena said with a shudder.

"He is really not that bad aunt Silena." Mich said to his aunt who did not look convinced.

**_The dead queued up in the three lines, two marked ATTENDANT ON DUTY, and one marked EZ DEATH. The EZ DEATH line was moving right along._**

"Because only the cowards take that line out of their free will." Hades said in a disgusted tone, but he needed to ad that to stop the large tumults which happened due to the large number of dead souls.

**_The other two were crawling._**

"But I needed it because of this." he added with a flinch.

**_"What do you figure?" I asked Annabeth._**

**_"The fast line must go straight to the Asphodel Fields," she said. _**

Henry tried not to flinch seeing how both his mom and grandmother had been at that time on those fields, he caught En's eyes and signalled to her that he was fine.

**_"No contest. They don't want to risk judgment from the court, because it might go against them."_**

"As said, they are cowards." Hades said while Ares nodded his head, he perfectly agreed.

**_"There's a court for dead people?"_**

"Of course, I can't do everything alone, it would be impossible." Hades said, even like this he hardly managed at some times, alone would be a disaster.

**_"Yeah. Three judges. They switch around who sits on the bench. King Minos, Thomas Jefferson, Shakespeare_**

Apollo and his children smiled at the last name.

**—****_people like that. Sometimes they look at a life and decide that person needs a special reward—the Fields of Elysium. Sometimes they decide on punishment. But most people, well, they just lived. Nothing special, good or bad. So they go to the Asphodel Fields."_**

Those who had already known this nodded their heads in agreement.

**_"And do what?"_**

**_Grover said, "Imagine standing in a wheat field in Kansas. Forever."_**

"That place sounds nice." Demeter said while Persephone restrained herself from shaking her head violently, she avoided Asphodel as much as she could.

**_"Harsh," I said._**

Demeter scowled at this while glowering at Poseidon who personally agreed with his son.

**_"Not as harsh as that," Grover muttered. "Look."_**

**_A couple of black-robbed ghouls had pulled aside one spirit and were frisking him at the security desk. _**

"Ah, someone managed to get my personal attention, too bad for him." Hades said smirking, usually those who managed that had done something he really didn't like and took the judgement into his own hands.

**_The face of the dead man looked vaguely familiar._**

**_"He's that preacher who made the news, remember?" Grover asked._**

**_"Oh, yeah." I did remember now. We'd seen him on TV a couple of times at the Yancy Academy dorm. He was this annoying televangelist from upstate New York who'd raised millions of dollars for orphanages and then got caught spending the money on stuff for his mansion, like gold-plated toilet seats, and an indoor putt-putt golf course. He'd died in a police chase when his "Lamborghini for the Lord" went off a cliff._**

There were many outraged and angry looks at this information.

"Brother, I'm glad that you take personal interest in that person." Hestia said in a tight tone, she really could not believe that he would say that the money is for children who had no family left and then spend it on himself.

"I agree with aunt Hestia." Artemis said, she was really starting to respect her uncle for taking personal care about such vile people.

**_I said, "What're they doing to him?"_**

**_"Special punishment from Hades," Grover guessed. "The really bad people get his personal attention as soon as they arrive. The Fur—the Kindly Ones will set up an eternal torture for him."_**

Everyone nodded their heads in satisfaction at the knowledge, that man deserved whatever he got.

**_The thought of the Furies made me shudder. I realized I was in their home territory now. Old Mrs. Dodds would be licking her lips with anticipation._**

"He will really be insisting to call her that." Triton said with a raised eyebrow.

"He certainly will." Luke answered his uncle.

**_"But if he's a preacher," I said, "and he believes in a different hell..."_**

**_Grover shrugged. "Who says he's seeing this place the way we're seeing it? Humans see what they want to see. You're very stubborn—er, persistent, that way."_**

"That is true, our Underworld is the one with the largest juridicism terrain from the remaining Underworld's." Enysswe explained with a shrug.

**_We got closer to the gates. The howling was so loud now it shook the ground at my feet, but I still couldn't figure out where it was coming from._**

"Good." some mumbled.

**_Then, about fifty feet in front of us, the green mist shimmered. Standing just where the path split into three lanes was an enormous shadowy monster._**

Almost everyone tensed at this.

**_I hadn't seen it before because it was half transparent, like the dead. Until it moved, it blended with whatever was behind it. Only its eyes and teeth looked solid. And it was staring straight at me._**

**_My jaw hung open. All I could think to say was, "He's a Rottweiler."_**

"Huh?" come it from Hades and Persephone.

"Now the mortals have a dog breed which looks really similar to Cerberus, but much smaller and with only one head." Henry explained.

"Wonderful, he is facing a three headed, vicious dog and he is thinking about what type he is." Poseidon mumbled under his breath, his son will give him gray hair if he continues like this.

**_I'd always imagined Cerberus as a big black mastiff._**

"Percy, not the time to think about dog breeds." Orion said in a worried tone, at least was Theseus still out cold.

**_But he was obviously a purebred Rottweiler, except of course that he was twice the size of a woolly mammoth, mostly invisible, and had three heads._**

"And heavy." Hades mumbled to himself as he remembered all the times when Cerberus had thrown himself at him, it is not easy to push down such a huge dog if you also get soaked by dog drool, a great drawback of your dog having three heads.

**_The dead walked right up to him—no fear at all._**

"He is only dangerous for the living who are not down there on invite." Henry explained.

"At least in the future will we have allowance to go down there." Annabeth mumbled while trying to figure out how they will get out of this, due to the title she guessed that she will have a part in that one, but did not know what. Meanwhile her father looked close to a heart attack, now he would prefer his daughter in a speeding taxi then in the Underworld facing that dog.

**_The ATTENDANT ON DUTY lines parted on either side of him. The EZ DEATH spirits walked right between his front paws and under his belly, which they could do without even crouching._**

**_"I'm starting to see him better," I muttered. "Why is that?"_**

**_"I think ..." Annabeth moistened her lips. "I'm afraid it's because we're getting closer to being dead."_**

Hades nodded as the other paled even more.

**_The dog's middle head craned toward us. It sniffed the air and growled._**

**_"It can smell the living," I said._**

Hades nodded his head again in confirmation.

**_"But that's okay," Grover said, trembling next to me. "Because we have a plan."_**

**_"Right," Annabeth said. I'd never heard her voice sound quite so small. "A plan."_**

**_We moved toward the monster._**

Everyone beside the legacies looked to nervous to comment.

**_The middle head snarled at us, then barked so loud my eyeballs rattled._**

**_"Can you understand it?" I asked Grover._**

**_"Oh yeah," he said. "I can understand it."_**

**_"What's it saying?"_**

**_"I don't think humans have a four-letter word that translates, exactly."_**

"I think he may have picked up some cussing during the centuries." Misty whispered to Henry who nodded his head.

"You don't know how many, mostly from grandfather whenever his brothers stared a type of war." he whispered back to her.

**_I took the big stick out of my backpack—a bedpost I'd broken off Crusty's Safari Deluxe floor model._**

"Your plan is to play fetch with him?" Clarisse asked incredulously, she may not be fully an animal person, but facing a three headed guard dog and try playing fetch was a stupid idea.

"He may like playing, but he will not do that immediately if faced by a stranger who is trespassing." Hades said while Hercules scowled in his seat, that dog looked certainly ready to play chewing toy with him when they meet.

**_I held it up, and tried to channel happy dog thoughts toward Cerberus—Alpo commercials, cute little pup pies, fire hydrants. _**

The book received a good deal of raised eyebrows at this.

**_I tried to smile, like I wasn't about to die._**

**_"Hey, Big Fella," I called up. "I bet they don't play with you much."_**

"Then you have lost that bet nephew, if I don't have time and Persephone is not there either one of our children play with him or I order someone to spend time with him." Hades said while his wife nodded.

"Dad certainly likes playing with him." En said at which Hades smiled.

**_"GROWWWLLLL!"_**

"Seems as if he also informed Percy regards the play thing." Chris said carefully.

**_"Good boy," I said weakly._**

**_I waved the stick. The dog's middle head followed the movement. The other two heads trained their eyes on me, completely ignoring the spirits. I had Cerberus's undivided attention. I wasn't sure that was a good thing._**

"Don't worry Percy, we are also not sure it that is a good thing." Jake said weakly, he personally thought that this was a bad thing, but he didn't want to risk getting hit over the head for making everyone even more worried then they already were.

**_"Fetch!" I threw the stick into the gloom, a good solid throw. I heard it go _****_ker-sploosh_****_in the River Styx._**

Cue unbelieving groans.

**_Cerberus glared at me, unimpressed._**

"I can understand why." Michael mumbled to himself, he could not imagine any dog being dumb enough to jump into that river to get a stick.

**_His eyes were baleful and cold._**

**_So much for the plan._**

**_Cerberus was now making a new kind of growl, deeper down in his three throats._**

**_"Um," Grover said. "Percy?"_**

**_"Yeah?"_**

**_"I just thought you'd want to know."_**

**_"Yeah?"_**

**_"Cerberus? He's saying we've got ten seconds to pray to the god of our choice_****_. _****_After that... well ... he's hungry."_**

"Uh…well at least is he kind of nice enough to give you ten seconds…" Gwen said while clinging to Dakota's arm.

**_"Wait!" Annabeth said. She started rifling through her pack._**

**_Uh-oh, I thought._**

**_"Five seconds," Grover said. "Do we run now?"_**

**_Annabeth produced a red rubber ball the size of a grapefruit. It was labeled WATERLAND, DENVER, CO. Before I could stop her, she raised the ball and marched straight up to Cerberus._**

"I think this is where the title comes in." Lee said as the others relaxed a small bit.

**_She shouted, "See the ball? You want the ball, Cerberus? Sit!"_**

**_Cerberus looked as stunned as we were._**

"I can imagine, you are not one of his owners." Persephone said with a small laugh.

**_All three of his heads cocked sideways. Six nostrils dilated._**

"I think he may have wanted to check if you should be one of mine." Hades said with a shrug as the others nodded their heads.

**_"Sit!" Annabeth called again._**

**_I was sure that any moment she would become the world's largest Milkbone dog biscuit._**

Athena gripped the armrests of her throne as she waited for what would happen, of course she trusted in Annabeth's abilities even thought she was not born in their time and knew that she would live, but she still felt worried.

**_But instead, Cerberus licked his three sets of lips, shifted on his haunches, and sat, immediately crushing a dozen spirits who'd been passing underneath him in the EZ DEATH line. The spirits made muffled hisses as they dissipated, like the air let out of tires._**

"A good thing that they are already dead." Travis said with a small laugh.

**_He caught it in his middle mouth. It was barely big enough for him to chew, and the other heads started snap ping at the middle, trying to get the new toy._**

"That is a normal occurrence." said all those who had played with him.

**_"Drop it.'" Annabeth ordered._**

"Suddenly I remember that time we sneaked into Athena's library and started messing with her books." Hermes whispered to Apollo who nodded his head, shuddering at the memory.

**_Cerberus's heads stopped fighting and looked at her. The ball was wedged between two of his teeth like a tiny piece of gum. He made a loud, scary whimper, then dropped the ball, now slimy and bitten nearly in half, at Annabeth's feet._**

**_"Good boy." She picked up the ball, ignoring the monster spit all over it._**

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose at this, but did not comment.

**_She turned toward us. "Go now. EZ DEATH line—it's faster."_**

**_I said, "But—"_**

**_"Now.'" She ordered, in the same tone she was using on the dog._**

This made a few poeple laugh in amusement while Annabeth blushed.

**_Grover and I inched forward warily._**

**_Cerberus started to growl._**

**_"Stay!" Annabeth ordered the monster. "If you want the ball, stay!"_**

**_Cerberus whimpered, but he stayed where he was._**

"He loves playing so he will listen." Persephone said, she really loved that large fur ball.

**_"What about you?" I asked Annabeth as we passed her._**

**_"I know what I'm doing, Percy," she muttered. "At least, I'm pretty sure... ."_**

No one felt reassured by these words.

**_Grover and I walked between the monster's legs._**

**_Please, Annabeth, I prayed. Don't tell him to sit again._**

Though this sentence diffused some of that nervousness.

**_We made it through. Cerberus wasn't any less scary-looking from the back._**

"Well, he does not think so anymore." Luke whispered to his sister.

**_Annabeth said, "Good dog!"_**

**_She held up the tattered red ball, and probably came to the same conclusion I did—if she rewarded Cerberus, there'd be nothing left for another trick._**

**_She threw the ball anyway. The monster's left mouth immediately snatched it up, only to be attacked by the middle head, while the right head moaned in protest._**

"As said, he is adorable." Persephone said before continuing, the chapter was soon over.

**_While the monster was distracted, Annabeth walked briskly under its belly and joined us at the metal detector._**

**_"How did you do that?" I asked her, amazed._**

**_"Obedience school," she said breathlessly, and I was surprised to see there were tears in her eyes._**

"I'm starting to guess why I'm visiting the Underworld." Annabeth said, she had always liked dogs and Blitz the Doberman which belonged to her dad's brother and was brought over often had been for a long time her only friend, at least she now knew that she could play with Cerberus and that Percy will have a dog with which she could spend time with, the pups should not be mentioned. Frederic was also remembering how Annabeth had loved playing with Brian's dog.

**_"When I was little, at my dad's house, we had a Doberman... ."_**

"…in the backyard." Frederic finished silently, that was where Blitz always could be found if Brian brought him over.

**_"Never mind that," Grover said, tugging at my shirt. "Come on!"_**

"Yes, you need to hurry." Katie said.

**_We were about to bolt through the EZ DEATH line when Cerberus moaned pitifully from all three mouths. Annabeth stopped._**

**_She turned to face the dog, which had done a one-eighty to look at us._**

**_Cerberus panted expectantly, the tiny red ball in pieces in a puddle of drool at its feet._**

"He can play for hours, but sadly you have no time for that." Persephone said in a soft tone, Cerberus's sad look was hard to bear if you needed to leave sooner.

**_"Good boy," Annabeth said, but her voice sounded melancholy and uncertain._**

**_The monster's heads turned sideways, as if worried about her._**

"Knowing him he probably was worried." Hades said, Cerberus could easily take to people who played with him.

"I will be visiting him in the future." Annabeth said with a small smile on her lips, she would have never thought that she would one day wish to freely visit down there if not for a quest or because her time had run out.

**_"I'll bring you another ball soon," Annabeth promised faintly. "Would you like that?"_**

**_The monster whimpered. I didn't need to speak dog to know Cerberus was still waiting for the ball._**

Now were more people having small smiles on their lips, they started to slowly see what Hades and Persephone were talking about.

**_"Good dog. I'll come visit you soon. I—I promise." Annabeth turned to us. "Let's go."_**

**_Grover and I pushed through the metal detector, which immediately screamed and set off flashing red lights. "Unauthorized possessions! Magic detected!"_**

"So this is why they are there." Beckendorf said intrigued, the mortals metal detectors could not pick up on their weapons, but those in the Underworld could, interesting.

**_Cerberus started to bark._**

**_We burst through the EZ DEATH gate, which started even more alarms blaring, and raced into the Underworld._**

**_A few minutes later, we were hiding, out of breath, in the rotten trunk of an immense black tree as security ghouls scuttled past, yelling for backup from the Furies._**

**_Grover murmured, "Well, Percy, what have we learned today?"_**

**_"That three-headed dogs prefer red rubber balls over sticks?"_**

There were several groans and face palms at the answer.

**_"No," Grover told me. "We've learned that your plans really, really bite!"_**

"And this time almost literally." Jay pointed out while two soft groans indicated that Trickster and Connor were waking up.

**_I wasn't sure about that. I thought maybe Annabeth and I had both had the right idea. Even here in the Underworld, everybody—even monsters—needed a little attention once in a while._**

"He has a point there." Travis said while helping his still groggy and slightly disoriented brother up while Felix took care about Trickster.

**_I thought about that as we waited for the ghouls to pass. I pretended not to see Annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of Cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend._**

"The chapter is done." Persephone said as she handed the book to her husband.

"Should we wake Theseus?" Orion asked while looking at his brother.

"I would say at the end of the second chapter after this one." Enysswe spoke up from her spot still on Orpheus's lap, this was also the time that everyone finally noticed that she was looking closer to the age of a six years old girl then her actual age.

"Huh?" a few of the demigods asked blinking.

"You were told that I have inherited shape-shifting and it is easier to be smaller at the given time." she explained before looking at her grandfather who nodded his head and started reading.

**_We Find out the Truth, Sort of_**

**_To be continued… _**


	19. There you have it

A/N: so finally managed to get back home, I really love the rain and also walking in it, but if it gets strong enough that some droplets leak through your umbrella and the ground looks as if mist would be gliding up till your ankles, then that is a heavy summer rain shower to be out in.

In any other news, we have officially after this one is done three more chapters to go and the first book is done. Also I would like to note that me updating fast is now officially not possible and that some chapters will take time due to both of the _**shift**_ keys on my laptop having stopped to function meaning that the apostrophes which the English language unfortunately uses, as well as other sentence endings which are not a point need to be copy-pasted which slows me down.

* * *

XIX. There you have it

"Looks as if those three will finally find out that it had not been me who was behind all of this." Hades said in a partly relieved tone, he really could not enjoy the thought of his won innocence when this meant that their father gained enough strength to break free from his prison and the thought of triumph sounded bittersweet to his mind. When turning back to the book and spotting the first line he groaned, he was starting to regret not having left the room and told someone other to read instead.

"Hades…"

"Don't worry grandmother Persephone, his reaction kind of has to do with how the chapter starts." Henry told his grandmother while his grandfather took a deep breath and continued, though his voice sounded pained.

**_Imagine the largest concert crowd you've ever seen, a foot ball field packed with a million fans._**

"Please tell me that this is the whole of the Underworld." Hades groaned while Poseidon blinked, he only had a number similar to this and higher when he also counted the sea creatures into the line of his subjects and not only the merpeople, water spirits and Cyclopes.

"Erm…not exactly…that was kind of only Asphodel...well partly, he did not finish with the comparing..." Nathan said carefully while being sure by the way the god's eyes widened in panic that they have a good chance to see what he turns into if really panicked and if not yet, then surely after he finds out that his son took a trip through Tartaros. He was really starting to feel even more sorry for the grandfather of his co-praetor, he had really to much work on his hands.

"I…" Hades did not even continue, but turned to his nephew. "Dionysus, could I please have a bottle from your strongest wine?" he asked, but after a glance at the book he looked up again. "Make that three" he corrected himself while looking at the blinking god.

"Now you are acting all over-dramatic and in a worse way then Zeus, because you will try to get drunk." Demeter scolded her brother while Persephone wanted to snap at her, that it was not like her husband to get drunk, but he needed something when things become terribly stressful and his reaction to the book worried her.

"Are you the one responsible to take care about everything down there or me? No? Then please stay by your cereals and wheat and leave me to try fixing the mess you all tend to cause in the Mortal Realm." Hades said testily while three bottles of wine appeared together with a drinking horn. "Thank you." he said while those who did not know what caused his reaction or about his daily duties looked at him worriedly.

"I think grandma forget the little fact that usually when you desperately want to get drunk it never works." Lance whispered to Misty, their dads had tried after uncle Chris informed them that he is getting married to aunt Clarisse, they had spent almost the whole night drinking and were in the morning still stone sober and demanded from poor Mr. P why that was.

**_Now imagine a field a million times that big, packed with people, Now imagine a field a million times that big, packed with people,_**

One could almost hear again the crashing sound of jaws hitting the floor as all eyes slowly travelled over to the Lord of the Underworld who had a pained look on his face.

**_and imagine the electricity has gone out, and there is no noise, no light, no beach ball bouncing around over the crowd. Something tragic has happened backstage. Whispering masses of people are just milling around in the shadows, waiting for a concert that will never start._**

The music fans were still mulling over the number comparison to react in any way to this statement.

**_If you can picture that, you have a pretty good idea what the Fields of Asphodel looked like._**

"You mean to say that, those numbers are only in one of the three realm parts?" Poseidon asked in a disbelieving tone while Hades filled the drinking horn and started drinking its contest, not feeling himself strong enough to comment, he will be terribly busy in the future as it seems.

"Those are enough numbers to move against Olymphos..." Zeus mumbled to himself till Hera kicked him in the shin and glared at him that he should not dare continue that thought line, because those numbers were there due to the immaturity of some gods, two certain ones also included who fought about who can make more spectacular catastrophes then the other.

"Grandfather, you should continue now." Enysswe told the ruler of the Underworld who took one last gulp from his drinking horn before nodding, it would be best to finish this chapter as fast as possible.

**_The black grass had been trampled by eons of dead feet. A warm, moist wind blew like the breath of a swamp. Black trees—Grover told me they were poplars—grew in clumps here and there._**

Those who lived or frequented in the Underworld nodded their heads regards the description of Asphodel while the others only listened silently.

**_The cavern ceiling was so high above us it might've been a bank of storm clouds, except for the stalactites, which glowed faint gray and looked wickedly pointed._**

Cue more nods while those of the past heroes whom had seen those shivered, it had been not pleasant walking under them because they gave you the constant feeling that they would crash down on you any second.

**_I tried not to imagine they'd fall on us at any moment,_**

Poseidon, his sons, Athena the demigods and Frederic shuddered, they did not need to see that visual, Pan on the other hand was silently praying that the trio gets past those without trouble.

**_but dotted around the fields were several that had fallen and impaled themselves in the black grass._**

Hades ignored the sharp intakes of breath as he read on, really now, most in his realm were already dead, this would not harm them in the slightest even if one should be standing under one of them when it falls down. Also, those falling were not everyday occasion, three or four fell down every fifty years or so.

**_I guess the dead didn't have to worry about little hazards like being speared by stalactites the size of booster rockets._**

Cue more shivers and some eye rolls.

**_Annabeth, Grover, and I tried to blend into the crowd, keeping an eye out for security ghouls. I couldn't help looking for familiar faces among the spirits of Asphodel,_**

"Who was he looking for?" asked Katie as she turned to the legacies.

"We are not sure, he never told us." Luke answered with a shrug as he looked at his sister if she might have heard something, but Sally was also shaking her head in the negative.

**_but the dead are hard to look at._**

"After a while you get used to it." Persephone said so that her mother would not hear, it was enough to look at her frowning face mixed with disapproval. This certainly made her daughter annoyed, she was the queen down there and as hard it is to believe for others even with all of its sadness, grief and terror had the Underworld a type of beauty to it and it was not only because of Elysium and the Isle of the Blest.

**_Their faces shimmer. They all look slightly angry or confused. They will come up to you and speak, but their voices sound like chatter, like bats twittering._**

"Again, you need a death aspect to understand them." Henry said while the others nodded in agreement.

**_Once they realize you can't understand them, they frown and move away._**

**_The dead aren't scary. They're just sad._**

"True." come it from those who had been down there while the others exchanged nervous glances with each other.

**_We crept along, following the line of new arrivals that snaked from the main gates toward a black-tented pavilion with a banner that read:_**

**_JUDGMENTS FOR ELYSIUM AND ETERNAL DAMNATION_**

**_Welcome, Newly Deceased!_**

"You know, without the whole damnation part would that banner sound kind of amusing." Connor whispered to Travis while by the thrones their father reassured his uncle that it was in a way a nice attempt for humour while the god looked back at his nephew with a raised eyebrow.

**_Out the back of the tent came two much smaller lines._**

**_To the left, spirits flanked by security ghouls were marched down a rocky path toward the Fields of Punishment,_**

Many tensed at the name.

"Please Percy, not one of your highly descriptional monologues, not about that part." Silena pleaded as she and Gwen hugged each other while Will glumped and hoped that in whatever room he lives down there it would not give him a view about those fields, he will be even fine with Asphodel, so while he was busy thinking did he not notice Persephone looking at him while she decided that by the next pause she will have a talk with the young demigod.

**_which glowed and smoked in the distance, a vast, cracked wasteland with rivers of lava and minefields and miles of barbed wire separating the different torture areas. _**

A good deal of people shivered while Ares gave a nod to his uncle, he liked how the design of those fields sounded, he might even join Artemis in her little talk regards punishment ideas, he had some nice ideas the god may like.

**_Even from far away, I could see people being chased by hellhounds, burned at the stake, forced to run naked through cactus patches or listen to opera music. _**

"What is wrong with opera music?" Michael asked carefully as he looked over at his niece after realizing that those from the antique would not have heard what that was till a good number of millennia.

"Did you ever hear off-key opera songs? Songs against which uncle Grover's first songs sounded like sweet music?" she asked him at which the other paled.

"Fitting idea." he replied hurriedly.

**_I could just make out a tiny hill, with the ant-size figure of Sisyphus struggling to move his boulder to the top._**

There were a few satisfied smirks at this.

"And he is lucky that he only got that and we din't hand him over to Lady Nyx or her children." Persephone said coldly, Charon had at that time told her a few nice ideas about what he would do to the mortal who dared to imprison his older brother.

"Knowing what she did with father it would have been a pretty through punishment." Jay whispered to the other demigods.

"Though she and her children had a right to be angry, leave alone the fact that till Lord Mars, I mean Lord Ares did not find him was the world without death which is not normal." Reyna added in as the others nodded their heads, a world without death may sound nice, but it was unnatural and for some whose time had come and are in pain would it just be cruel.

**_And I saw worse tortures, too—things I don't want to describe._**

There were many sighs of relief at that sentence as some of the demigods even silently thanked Percy that he stopped talking about that part of the Underworld.

**_The line coming from the right side of the judgment pavilion was much better._**

"Of course he would say that." Hades said while shaking his head, that line lead to the third and less filled main realm of his kingdom.

**_This one led down toward a small valley surrounded by walls—_**

A small flicker of amusement passed over Hades's as he noticed the demigods lean closer curiously to hear better, it was noting new seeing how all the children of his family aimed to land there, some made it some failed on the way due to taking the wrong path or falling victim to their inherited fatal flaw. It was if he admits it the hardest to judge them seeing that they still counted as family even thought their parents till recently had turned their backs to him no matter their knowledge that in the end he would be the one to decide the children's future for eternity.

**_a gated community, which seemed to be the only happy part of the Underworld. Beyond the security gate were neighborhoods of beautiful houses from every time period in history,_**

Annabeth leaned even more further, the thought that in Elysium she could see the architecture of every time period in their actual forms sounded amaizing.

**_Roman villas_**

The Roman demigods smiled at the knowledge, so even the afterlife if they make it to Elysium would not leave them homesick after New Rome and camp.

**_and medieval castles and Victorian mansions._**

Silena beamed, Victorian mansions looked beautiful in her option.

**_Silver and gold flowers bloomed on the lawns._**

Katie looked rather interested at this, those flowers sounded beautiful in her option and even Demeter needed to agree with that thought, meanwhile Aphrodite made plans to ask Hades if she could get some of those flowers, they would look beautiful in her hair or as a decoration on one of her outfits.

**_The grass rippled in rainbow colors._**

Gwen felt her eyes widen, that sounded rather pretty combined with those flowers while outside Iris immediately started interrogating the three siblings of the Underworld regards how that had been made. Hestia meanwhile looked over at her younger brother and gave him a small smile that which he returned, Elysium could be a relaxing place compared to the other two main parts and sub-sections of his realm.

**_I could hear laughter and smell barbecue cooking._**

**_Elysium._**

The demigods all smiled, this was one of the two places every hero wished to go after their death while hoping that those whom they had lost would be also waiting there for them.

**_In the middle of that valley was a glittering blue lake,_**

Outside of the palace Macaria allowed herself a small smile regards the place she guarded the entrance to.

**_with three small islands like a vacation resort in the Bahamas. The Isles of the Blest, for people who had chosen to be reborn three times, and three times achieved Elysium._**

**Cue more no**ds, this was the second place every hero is aiming for.

"I wonder if he will make it." Lance whispered to Misty who nodded her head, of course she knew that he was talking about their uncle whom had before his death made up his mind that he wishes to gain that right.

**_Immediately I knew that's where I wanted to go when I died._**

"This is the aim of many." Jay said with a grin on his lips.

"Though it is not an easy feet achieving Elysium in three different life times, but there are some who manage." Beckendorf said.

"Also as we were told Percy is a special case so he has a fifty-fifty chance for eternal bliss or damnation." Travis said smirking.

"Please, lets not go there." Poseidon said, he did not wish to think about the death of any of his children, it will be already bad enough when someone mentions how one of his current sons will pass from the world of the living, no need to add more to it.

**_"That's what it's all about," Annabeth said, like she was reading my thoughts. "That's the place for heroes."_**

Siad heroes nodde their heads while Frederic shook his head, as nice that place sounded he did not wish to think aobut Annabeht dying.

"Somehow, I don't feel surprised that the moral of the mortals will also start to change and not only their beliefs." Hades spoke up in a sad tone as he read over the next lines, the legacies nodded, the mortals have changed and many as by their lack of love for the nature, not for the better.

**_But I thought of how few people there were in Elysium, how tiny it was compared to the Fields of Asphodel or even the Fields of Punishment. So few people did good in their lives. It was depressing._**

Many hung their heads at hearing this information.

"I agree with the young hero's words, it is saddening that so little good is done by the people." Hestia said softly.

"Unfortunately no matter if the intentions of people are good, sometimes the sudden power and wealth they achieve corrupts their mind and makes them greedy, they abandon promises and turn selfish and even if not, they become victims of jealousy, hate or deluded sights." Misty said in a sad tone, it happened to many politicians and other people, the mortals gave in to easily to the seven Cardinal Sins.

**_We left the judgment pavilion and moved deeper into the Asphodel Fields. It got darker. The colors faded from our clothes. The crowds of chattering spirits began to thin._**

**_After a few miles of walking, we began to hear a familiar screech in the distance. _**

"The Kindly Ones." Silena guessed carefully, she hoped that they would not be seen.

**_Looming on the horizon was a palace of glittering black obsidian._**

Persephone shared a smile with her husband wile the others looked interested how the palace may look like seeing that they had never been there and even Hermes as he went to get his sister had not threaded close enough to get a glimpse of his uncle's home.

**_Above the parapets swirled three dark batlike creatures: the Furies. I got the feeling they were waiting for us._**

"That doesn't sound good." Jake pointed out nervously while the others gave him dark looks.

**_"I suppose it's too late to turn back," Grover said wistfully._**

**_"We'll be okay." I tried to sound confident._**

**_"Maybe we should search some of the other places first," Grover suggested. "Like, Elysium, for instance …"_**

"I'm only in Elysium when I do my rounds around the three fields to make sure that everything is alright, and somehow I doubt that I was doing that at that time." Hades said when he noticed how everyone was looking at him again. "What is it now? There is noting wrong with personally going through your realm to see if everything is really alright and that there is not something your subordinates missed." he said while the other gods turned away from him.

"Why do I have the feeling through their reactions that Lord Hades does more work in his realm then most of the other gods beside Lord Hermes." Mitchell whispered to Malcolm who turned to him.

"Because this seems to be the case." he answered back, it seems that Lord Hades may be right that neither of his brothers would manage to keep his realm under control if those amount of souls, paperwork and his own inspections and judging were any indication and somehow he knew from the god's previous reactions that there was much more he needs to do.

**_"Come on, goat boy." Annabeth grabbed his arm._**

"Hermes, is this a normal behaviour for them?" Hades asked his nephew with a frown on his face.

"What do you mean?" the messenger asked as Hades continued to read as an answer.

**_Grover yelped. His sneakers sprouted wings and his legs shot forward, pulling him away from Annabeth._**

After finishing the paragraph he turned with the others to the frowning god.

"To answer your previous question, no this is not a normal behaviour in the slightest." no one liked the answer at all.

"Somehow I feared it seeing how the shoes are heading in the worst possible direction." Hades said while both Malcolm and Mitchell bit back panicked yelps and growls, the other only looked even more worried.

**_He landed flat on his back in the grass._**

**_"Grover," Annabeth chided. "Stop messing around."_**

"I would certainly be way happier if that would be the case." Chris said, he had a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach, the shoes Luke had given to Percy and was so insistent that the other uses it were acti…he suddenly felt as if someone would have poured icy water over him. A thief skilled enough to steal from the gods, Luke's strange behaviour whenever his namesake is mentioned, the suggestions of said namesake…he could not believe that this is happening. He felt suddenly really sick to the stomach.

**_"But I didn't—"_**

**_He yelped again. His shoes were flapping like crazy now. They levitated off the ground and started dragging him away from us._**

**_"Maia!" _****_he yelled, but the magic word seemed to have no effect. _**

And this made it certain that something was seriously wrong.

**_"Maia, _****_already! Nine-one-one! Help!"_**

"Why is he calling out numbers?" Poseidon asked in confusion.

"You see after phones were invented, something like an IM without picture and sometimes a sacrifice, well each country decided to have a number which one can call if they need help." Annabeth explained as summarised and simple as she could.

"True, but uncle Grover got the number for that in the Underworld way wrong." Henry said as the others turned to him, somehow they did not even wonder anymore that there was an emergency number, but for what no one wanted to ask.

"What is the correct number then?" Trickster asked not sure if he wants to know.

"Easy, six-six-six." Henry replied grinning as Trickster nodded his head carefully, he should have guessed.

"Great, so the number of the beast." Felix said as he shook his head before noticing those from the antique looking at them so he started elaborating. "It is a numerological identifier of the first of two beasts, the first of them descending from the sea and the second from the earth." here both Hades and Poseidon sent Zeus dirty looks that he should not dare commenting. "Both are mentioned in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelations which people believe tells about the end of times, this number is the prominent one, but a small few like the Novum Testamentum Graece like to put it as six-one-six. "

**"**In the Revelation's narrative the "_mark of the beast" _is used to identify the beast's acolytes. The number is one of three choices in Revelation 13:17— _"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name." _The _"number of his name"_ is mentioned also in Revelation 15:2 distinctly from his mark. It is widely thought among dispensationalists that the mark will take the form of a number or symbol that will be revealed only during the End Times." Malcolm added in as a finishing part.

"I think the mortals are starting to have to much free time in the future." Hermes whispered to Apollo who on the other hand felt relaxed that he did not have any hinting visions, meaning that the accuracy of that book is uncertain.

**_I got over being stunned and made a grab for Grover's hand, but too late._**

"At least unlike me you tried doing something." Annabeth mumbled to herself, she will need to make a list about things she should avoid saying and doing in the future if they can't stop the thief.

**_He was picking up speed, skidding downhill like a bobsled._**

**_We ran after him._**

**_Annabeth shouted, "Untie the shoes!"_**

"Easier said then done." Hades commented dryly while hoping that the three will be intelligent enough to get out of that place as fast as they can.

**_It was a smart idea, but I guess it's not so easy when your shoes are pulling you along feetfirst at full speed. Grover tried to sit up, but he couldn't get close to the laces._**

"You need to reach him, he can't do it alone." Katie said worriedly while by the thrones Pan covered his eyes, no matter that he was listening to a book and not seeing the happenings.

"I really don't like the way the shoes are acting, they had never done something like that before, they don't even react to the command." Hermes was nervous, someone had manipulated on the magic and that was only possible if someone was a god or another divinity, but he could not see Hecate near those shoes, he did not know why, but he had the feeling that she had nothing to do with this no matter her affinity for magic.

**_We kept after him, trying to keep him in sight as he ripped between the legs of spirits who chattered at him in annoyance._**

"Spirits can be annoyed?" Dakota asked in confusion.

"Those are some of the basic emotion fragments which are kept by spirits in Asphodel, this is because who gets sent there or picks it to not risk judgement will lose all of their memories about their lives while those in Elysium, the Isles and in Punishment keep them." Hades explained, he did not feel the need to add that if one of his children would somehow end up there that unlike the others they would keep their memories.

"That explains it." the blackhead said carefully while he did a mental note to work on to not even by accident land on Asphodel, he liked his memories rather much.

**_I was sure Grover was going to barrel straight through the gates of Hades's palace,_**

"Well, those are some massive gates so he would have kind of been stopped by them if he would have gone into the right direction." Nathan said carefully while quickly and unnoticed by the others zapped Ace, Mich, Lance and Luke before they dare to mention his small incident three years ago, he learned on the hard way not to speed fly in the Underworld when heading for the palace.

"Great, I fear we will hate where he is going." Athena said while crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"You can be sure about that." Hades said before returning to the book.

**_but his shoes veered sharply to the right and dragged him in the opposite direction._**

Persephone gasped, she knew what was opposite from the palace, her reacting meanwhile made the others squirm uncomfortably in their seats.

**_The slope got steeper._**

Hades wondered if he should tell his nephew that his uncle and sister may also need wine for their nerves, and some extra ripe wine grapes for Pan, but decided to see how bad things will get, the others may speak up if they feel like it.

**_Grover picked up speed. Annabeth and I had to sprint to keep up._**

No one liked to hear this and a few chants of pleading could be heard like a soft murmur as Hades kept reading on, they were close now to the cave, unfortunately.

**_The cavern walls narrowed on either side, and I realized we'd entered some kind of side tunnel. No black grass or trees now, just rock underfoot, and the dim light of the stalactites above._**

"_Of course, all life no matter how damned refuses to grow on that place of madness except in the Valley of Night born through the work of Lady Nyx to serve as her and her children's home, but that was not reachable without invite, Lord Tartaros himself made sure about that." _Hades thought bitterly.

**_"Grover!" I yelled, my voice echoing. "Hold on to something!"_**

**_"What?" he yelled back._**

**_He was grabbing at gravel, but there was nothing big enough to slow him down._**

The tension was almost suffocating and Poseidon contemplated if he should ask where the children were heading, but something told him that he should enjoy these few minutes of suspense, for he won't like the answer.

**_The tunnel got darker and colder. The hairs on my arms bristled. It smelled evil down here._**

"Uncle…please tell me they are not heading in that direction." Artemis gasped in horror, but she did not receive an answer, but the pained look her half-sister was giving her was answer enough.

"What are you talki…just wonderful." Triton said wile slapping his forehead, slowly some of he other divinities also paled and looked in panic at the book.

"I really don't like their reactions." Katie whispered to the others, receiving a few nervous nods.

**_It made me think of things I shouldn't even know about—_**

"At least you got the lighter pictures, I dread entering that place and never go there without Thanatos or at least one of his sisters the Keres accompanying me, they seem to be the only ones who can near it without their minds assaulted by those pictures." Hades said with a disgusted shiver, but what scarred everyone even more was the fact that they could hear the echo of terror in his voice while by the heroes of old bit Enysswe back a sigh. Her poor father had endured those images as he stepped into the cave to search for the Doors, the echo of their damaging cruelty and cold terror still present in his mind and only suppressed and slowly mending through the presence of her mothers.

"I think we will refuse those shoes or not take them to the Underworld." Annabeth said so she missed the look her brother, Mitchell and Chris were giving her.

**_blood spilled on an ancient stone altar,_**

The demigods and mortal family stared with horror at the book.

**_the foul breath of a murderer._**

"If these were the pictures of the child-friendly version I dread to know what Lord Hades sees when he goes on an inspection there." Dakota said faintly, the others also feeling sick and panicked, mostly Annabeth who knew that she would see the same images as Percy did.

She was not looking forth to that experience and will be on her best to not have it.

**_Then I saw what was ahead of us, and I stopped dead in my tracks._**

**_The tunnel widened into a huge dark cavern, and in the middle was a chasm the size of a city block._**

"HERMES!" Athena screamed as she grabbed her brother who looked panicked while Pan wondered again if it would be less dangerous to sit on Dionysus's lap, he gets not glared on and by him he would not be in danger to be suffocated by one of his aunts. "I swear if your damned shoes make my daughter crash into Tartaros will I tie you up and stuff each pair you have of those flying shoes down your throat, did I make myself clear!" she hissed at the deadly pale god till Artemis and Persephone managed to drag her back to her throne while Annabeth scooted closer to her friends, she did not like the thought to be close to the entrance of Tartaros.

"I wonder how she will take it if she finds out that she is the ground that her daughter had fallen down there?" Ace whispered to Misty.

"Something which won't be pretty to see, but there is still a chance to make it not happen if the causing deed had been not done till now!"

**_Grover was sliding straight toward the edge._**

There were several sharp intakes of breath at hearing this together with the whimpering sound Pan made, just like the satyrs outside.

**_"Come on, Percy!" Annabeth yelled, tugging at my wrist._**

**_"But that's—"_**

**_"I know!" she shouted. "The place you described in your dream! But Grover's going to fall if we don't catch him." She was right, of course. Grover's predicament got me moving again._**

There were a few forced smiles at this, but they just wanted this part of the chapter to end.

**_He was yelling, clawing at the ground, but the winged shoes kept dragging him toward the pit,_**

Each word made those in and outside of the throne room flinch as they literally could heart the fear and despair in them regards the situation.

**_and it didn't look like we could possibly get to him in time._**

Cue more fliches which made them momentanly forget that Grover had made it.

**_What saved him were his hooves._**

This made some people blink in confusion while others were only happy that something saved him.

**_The flying sneakers had always been a loose fit on him, and finally Grover hit a big rock and the left shoe came flying off. It sped into the darkness, down into the chasm. The right shoe kept tugging him along, but not as fast. Grover was able to slow himself down by grabbing on to the big rock and using it like an anchor._**

**_He was ten feet from the edge of the pit when we caught him and hauled him back up the slope. The other winged shoe tugged itself off, circled around us angrily and kicked our heads in protest before flying off into the chasm to join its twin._**

There were several sighs of relief and a few silent snickers from the Hermes kids about agressive shoes, they needed a small laugh after being worried like this.

"That had been too close for my liking and now they should get the Hades out of there." Hermes said while said god scoffed.

"Stop using my name as a swear word, it is annoying, but I agree that it is better for them to head to my place then to stay there." he said in an annoyed tone and from the sheepish looks the legacies were giving him, this thing regards his name will not change much in the future.

"As hard it is for me to say it, but they will be more safe in his palace then in that cave." Demeter said, her face looking like that of a person who had bitten into a rotten apple.

**_We all collapsed, exhausted, on the obsidian gravel. My limbs felt like lead._**

"Percy, I know that you are tired, but that is not the place to rest even for a second." Poseidon pleaded and the others agreed with him.

**_Even my backpack seemed heavier, as if somebody had filled it with rocks._**

As much as Malcolm was worried about the trio something in his brain was telling him that the last sentence was strange.

**_Grover was scratched up pretty bad._**

"Being dragged on the ground leaves such marks on a body." Apollo said in a disgusted tone while he glared at Athena whom did her best to not look at her brother, she knew why he was angry with her.

**_His hands were bleeding. His eyes had gone slit-pupiled, goat style, the way they did whenever he was terrified._**

"Who would not after being nearly dragged by uncontrollable flying shoes into the darkness of a place against which the Fields of Punishment may look like Elysium." Dionysus said before turning to the others. "Those not counting in their time as underage should inform me if they wish for wine." he told the nodding divinities and adults.

**_"I don't know how ..." he panted. "I didn't..."_**

**_"Wait," I said. "Listen."_**

"No, don't listen, just grab Grover, turn around and run." Amphitrite said worriedly, the others certainly liked her idea.

**_I heard something—a deep whisper in the darkness._**

**_Another few seconds, and Annabeth said, "Percy, this place—"_**

**_"Shh." I stood._**

**_The sound was getting louder, a muttering, evil voice from far, far below us. Coming from the pit._**

"MOVE IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!" everyone yelled, they wanted them away from that place.

**_Grover sat up. "Wh—what's that noise?"_**

**_Annabeth heard it too, now. I could see it in her eyes. "Tartarus. The entrance to Tartarus." I uncapped Anaklusmos._**

"Not going to do anything." Ares said, but one could notice that he also wanted the three out of there.

**_The bronze sword expanded, gleaming in the darkness, and the evil voice seemed to falter,_**

"Heh, someone did not except a weapon pulled on them." Hermes said in an attempt to lessen the tension, but it did not seem to work.

**_just for a moment, before resuming its chant._**

**_I could almost make out words now, ancient, ancient words, _**

Hades placed the book into his lap, filled the drinking horn almost to the brim and took a long gulp from the red liquid.

"How long will me lovely little brother keep up the pretence that Father will not be able enough to escape." he said while looking at the legacies, ignoring the glare Zeus gave him.

"With the informations he gets in this book and the grave happeings next year, so almost one and a half year given and take a few weeks." Sally said while Hades gave a glare to his little brother.

"I see." he said before continuing.

**_older even than Greek. _**

"I really don't like the feeling this sentence gives me." Travis said while the others nodded, the divinities on the other hand were looking darkly at Zeus.

**_As if ..._**

**_"Magic," I said._**

"Definitely not liking it."

"Zeus, he is able to use magic, this had not happened before, he is gaining immense power in the future." Hera snapped at the stubborn god, if even one of them held on stubbornly to the slightest denial that the first despair befalling the future will be through the hand of their father, now those had lost even that glimmer.

Zeus on the other hand chose not to comment, but he felt also worried for he had a good guess that their father would the moment he gets out go for him.

**_"We have to get out of here," Annabeth said._**

"You should have done that right after saving Grover." Athena said, she did not want her daughter anywhere near the place mostly not if that bastard is about to use some type of magic.

**_Together, we dragged Grover to his hooves and started back up the tunnel. My legs wouldn't move fast enough. My backpack weighed me down._**

Malcolm was again forced to wonder about the comment regards the backpack, but this time seemed a few other in the room to also frown a bit at it.

**_The voice got louder and angrier behind us, _**

"Of curse, he hates being ignored." Poseidon grumbled before returning to make mental threats against his father.

"Why does this sound familiar." Orpheus heard Enysswe said to herself while she threw a glance both at Hercules and Zeus, he really hoped for his cousin that he will not do the same as his father and provoke her further.

**_and we broke into a run._**

"Should have done that from the start." Annabeth grumbled, another bad decision or better put late reaction.

**_Not a moment too soon._**

Everyone tensed.

**_A cold blast of wind pulled at our backs, as if the entire pit were inhaling._**

Here Hades stopped again and turned to his brother, niece and grand-nephew.

"I think you should ask for some wine if you wish so." he told the trio who shook their heads, but gripped the closest thing avaible as a hold.

**_For a terrifying moment, I lost ground, my feet slipping in the gravel._**

Poseidon and the still sleeping Theseus let out a whimpering sound while Orion and Bellerophon clung to each other in fright.

"I see why it was a good idea to let Theseus continue sleeping." Perseus whispered to his wife while he held her closer, Perses was also clinging to his mother, happy that his father had not gone to such a quest, but to ones more in the upper ground.

"I also think that Lord Poseidon has changed his option regards his brother's earlier offer." Andromeda said as Hades let the filled drinking horn float over to Poseidon who emptied it with only one gulp.

**_If we'd been any closer to the edge, we would've been sucked in._**

"At least they were farther away." Frederic said in a relieved tone, he was sure that sooner or later he would have a heart attack from these things her daughter would face while both Bobby and Matthew looked at their sister with wide eyes, they were sure that if their big sister would still be home that she would be able to chase away the monster in the closet, because it was not something strong like this.

**_We kept struggling forward, and finally reached the top of the tunnel,_**

Cue relieved sighs.

**_where the cavern widened out into the Fields of Asphodel. where the cavern widened out into the Fields of Asphodel._**

"I think at that moment had that been a wonderful sight." Silena said still shaking from the thought of what could have happened to the three.

**_The wind died. A wail of outrage echoed from deep in the tunnel. Something was not happy we'd gotten away._**

There were a good deal of grins at the failed plan of that monster.

**_"What _****_was _****_that?" Grover panted, when _****_we'd _****_collapsed in the relative safety of a black poplar grove. "One of Hades's pets?"_**

"Unfortunately is that thing partly responsible for my birth and a good deal of traumatisation, so not a pet, those have likable aspect to them, he on the other hand doesn't." Hades said in a flat tone while again his siblings shifted in their thrones which made the others frown at them in confusion.

**_Annabeth and I looked at each other. I could tell she was nursing an idea, probably the same one she'd gotten during the taxi ride to L.A., but she was too scared to share it. That was enough to terrify me._**

Everyone nodded their heads, mostly the demigods who did not like the idea in the slightest that they will be facing the King of Titans in a full out war, the constant monster attacks were nice little games compared to tha**t. **

**_I capped my sword, put the pen back in my pocket. "Let's keep going." I looked at Grover. "Can you walk?"_**

**_He swallowed. "Yeah, sure. I never liked those shoes, anyway."_**

There were a few weak snickers at this, but no one actually felt like laughing after reading about those three nearly falling into the deepest darkness.

**_He tried to sound brave about it, but he was trembling as badly as Annabeth and I were. Whatever was in that pit was nobody's pet._**

Cue nodds and shivers.

**_It was unspeakably old and powerful._**

More nods.

**_Even Echidna hadn't given me that feeling. I was almost relieved to turn my back on that tunnel and head toward the palace of Hades._**

"Compared to where you have been before, it is much better." Jake said, if he would need to pick between the palace of the Underworld and Tartaros then he would without a second doubt rush towards the castle.

**_Almost._**

"It is nice there." come it from Persephone, Henry, Enysswe and Orpheus whom had found it actually rather interesting and in its own way comfortable for those living in it. Hades only smiled at the support and continued reading.

**_The Furies circled the parapets, high in the gloom._**

"Technically, they are also tasked with the security of the Underworld, plus their sleeping quarters are in the east wing of the palace." Persephone said while the others decided not to comment that some of the staff live in the palace of their employee.

**_The outer walls of the fortress glittered black, and the two-story-tall bronze gates stood wide open._**

"They are only closed in the night…well if things should turn out so that no one needs to do an all-nighter that is." Henry said as his grandfather sighed, those night when the gates could be closed was rare, but then he noticed the next line and frowned.

"I don't remember this having been on it before." he said much to the confusion of the throne room, well the legacies had a guess what it may be about.

_**Up close, I saw that the engravings on the gates were scenes of death.**_

"I also don't remember having those on the gates." Persephone said while outside her children exchanged confused glances.

"The explaining for it will be guessed by uncle Percy in the upcoming lines, this installation will be started in five decades." Enysswe informed the room while gesturing to her grandfather to continue.

**_Some were from modern times—_**

"Just lovely." Hades commented dryly before filling his returned drinking horn and taking a gulp before continuing, really those mortals as if his family would not give him enough work already.

**_an atomic bomb exploding over a city,_**

"The bombing of Hiroshima on the august of 1945, through the Americans" here she flashed a glare at Zeus, fine Pearl Harbour had a number of causalities, but that was noting compared to what those damned bombs did. "The exact death toll on that day was according to recent studies and comparisons of other such ninety thousand." Enysswe said darkly as Hades grabbed the drinking horn while the others looked horrified, even the Trojan War had not caused such a carnage, leave alone in only one day.

"There is still a bunch of residual work from that day seeing that this was still in the Second World War." Henry put in as Poseidon flinched, maybe he could suggest to Hades that he can send over a few of him men to deal with those papers, or he sends some of it over to Atlantis and he can cover some of them.

**_a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls—a trench filled with gas mask-wearing soldiers, a line of African famine victims waiting with empty bowls—_**

"Just a question, regards the last one, had my mother decided to make good of her childish acting to keep me from going back to my husband?" Persephone asked testily, breaking the sad silence, that action from her mother when she married Hades still enraged her immensely.

"Well, there were some guesses, but this time it was not her." Enysswe said while Demeter looked at her daughter.

"Kore..." she started, but was interrupted.

"Persephone and don't even try finding an excuse, if you would have asked to talk with me and _my husband_, we may have come to a good agreement, but what did you do anstead of acting like a responsible goddess? When whining did not help you were ready to let the mortals starve to force me back, why do you thing I ate those seeds before Hades come to bring me to where Hermes was waiting?" Persephone asked her now stunned mother while Katie looked at her lap, it was not easy to hear these parts about your mother.

"You ate those to return?" Demeter asked still in a stunned tone as Aphrodite beamed at this drastic act of love while Apollo averted his eyes, he was sure that in a reversed situation he would have done just the same to stay by the dark god.

"Of course I did, this whole tricked into eating thing was the result of your overreaction and the fact that you never asked for my account of the happenings and only relied on your own options even in that. As hard it is for you to see, I love being the Queen of the Underworld." Persephone said before turning back to her husband to show that this conversation was in her eyes ended and that they could continue reading.

**_but all of them looked as if they'd been etched into the bronze thousands of years ago. I wondered if I was looking at prophecies that had come true._**

"Prophecies?" Apollo asked perking up while he tried to hide the small excitement in his tone, it would be more then rude and unethical to look excited about such cruel future happenings.

"Yes, it was kind of decided to have the more darker prophecies regards the future etched into the gate, so whenever one comes up you could freely enter the Underworld even without permission." Enysswe told her grandfather, knowing that he was on the inside probably happy to hear about the fact that he can be soon even if for a short time near her other grandfather, well now in their time is he visiting more often in winter.

"Ok guys, your dad is providing more frightening decoration for the Underworld." Connor whispered to the three sons and one legacy of Apollo who decided not to comment, or hit the son of Hermes.

**_Inside the courtyard was the strangest garden I'd ever seen._**

"I have you know Percy, that there is noting wrong with my garden." Persephone said, sure she was excited about the thought of a real flower garden which was not in Elysium or on the Isles, but she liked also this one. Hades had done his best to give her a garden in the palace even though he knew that it was not in his power to make the earth in it grow flowers without natural light, she found it touching that he still gave his best.

**_Multicolored mushrooms, poisonous shrubs,_**

Will did his best to not perk up on that, those could be interesting to work with, he wondered if beside the shrubs also some of the mushrooms were poisonous or not, but for that he would need a better description about them.

**_and weird luminous plants grew without sunlight._**

"Well, that whole no sunlight thing will be in a few years taken care of in our time." Travis said grinning as Will flushed while glaring at the other before whispering in a threatening tone.

"Guess who is the one from our cabin written out to do the physicals of the Hermes Cabin." he whispered to the paling brunette.

**_Precious jewels made up for the lack of flowers, piles of rubies as big as my fist, clumps of raw diamonds._**

"Those sound lovely." Silena said in a dreamy tone, a garden with flowers made out of jewels.

"_I envy you girl_." Aphrodite told Persephone telepathically, she would not mind receiving such a flower, make that two dozen from each type.

"Great, I will need to go shopping for jewellery... much jewellery." Ares grumbled as he massaged his forehead before looking over to his brother who nodded his head.

**_Standing here and there like frozen party guests were Medusa's garden statues— petrified children, satyrs, and centaurs—all smiling grotesquely._**

"I think…we now kind of know how those statues fit into the garden." Chris said carefully, but he was still mulling over his revelation_. "At least in the end you will be good again." _he thought sadly.

**_In the center of the garden was an orchard of pomegranate trees,_**

Demeter stared at her lap in anger, she hated those trees for it were their seeds which made her daughter return to the dead world each winter and now the knowledge that she consumed them on her own…

**_their orange blooms neon bright in the dark. "The garden of Persephone," Annabeth said. "Keep walking."_**

**_I understood why she wanted to move on. The tart smell of those pomegranates was almost overwhelming._**

"It is?" asked Hades and Persephone in confusion while outside a few deities did the same.

"I think it may be so for living beings who don't reside in the Underworld." Henry said remembering some of the times he needed to drag the others away from near the trees.

"That could be it, I like their scent, but it does not feel overwhelming in the slightest, even for the nymphs."

"There are nymphs in the Underworld?" asked a few curiously, others were shocked.

"Not many, but there are a few living down there and serving me." Hades said with a shrug before turning his gaze back to the book, he was curious how his nephew would describe him, his hopes were not all to high after hearing the descriptions of two of his nephews.

**_I had a sudden desire to eat them, but then I remembered the story of Persephone. One bite of Underworld food, and we would never be able to leave._**

"Oh and as a side info, in the future made Lord Hades sure that there are also foods brought down there from the living world so that it is safe to eat them." Nathan spoke up.

"Looking at the fact that we often got visitors down there and uncle Nico kind of lived most of the time down there and later also my mother is that not a surprise." Henry said while the demigods looked at him blinking.

"Your uncle lived there?" Felix asked in confusion while the gods looked at Hades.

"We know that it was explained why a demigod can't live with their godly parent though with his case being a bit complicated and camp being at that time not exactly trusty towards children of the Underworld had the Fates decided to make an exception regards this case." Sally said before adding. "Book three and up till five will explain."

**_I pulled Grover away to keep him from picking a big juicy one._**

Pan nodded his head in approval, if the smell was for a demigod already overwhelming, then for a satyr it would be almost impossible to restrain themselves.

**_We walked up the steps of the palace, between black columns, through a black marble portico, and into the house of Hades._**

The legacies did their best to not react about the last part of the sentence while the others looked also a bit uncomfortable as they remembered that this was the title of the forelast book.

**_The entry hall had a polished bronze floor, which seemed to boil in the reflected torchlight. There was no ceiling, just the cavern roof, far above. I guess they never had to worry about rain down here._**

"That only happens in Elysium and Punishment." Hades said in a calm tone.

"What?" come several confused questions.

"In Elysium they are spring showers, the spirits seem to enjoy those mostly that they always result in rainbows as for Punishment, there are the occasional black rains which feels as if needles would be showering down at you, well for the staff working there it feels like normal rain." he explained while the others stared at him wide eyed, which was starting to get old in his option, it was not his fault that his siblings did not wish to know about his realm and he had no desire to go into a full lecture about it.

**_Every side doorway was guarded by a skeleton in military gear. _**

The children of war perked up in interest while the gods responsible for it looked curious.

**_Some wore Greek armor, some British redcoat uniforms, some camouflage with tattered American flags on the shoulders. They carried spears or muskets or M-16s. None of them bothered us, but their hollow eye sockets followed us as we walked down the hall, toward the big set of doors at the opposite end._**

"Meaning, you had been expected." Malcolm said, he did not like that thought.

"A good thing that your grandfather was also informed that he should test uncle Percy, but unlike Poseidon he seemed to have a bit more of an inkling why that was asked from him." Nathan whispered to Henry who nodded his head in agreement.

"Though the way uncle Percy had addressed him upon arrival kind of threw him of the loop." he whispered back, his grandfather had not expected a demigod son of his children to recogrinaise him as family in their words.

**_Two U.S. Marine skeletons guarded the doors. They grinned down at us, rocket-propelled grenade launchers held across their chests._**

Clarisse looked wide eyed at this, those were pretty great weapons.

"To bad that those are banned from Olymphos and the usage of the Ares cabin." Ace said in a pained tone as his mother whipped around with wide eyes.

"What?" she did not find this fair at all.

"It kind of had something to do with uncle Phobos and uncle Deimos having gotten their hands on a pair from the weapon collection grandfather has and caused a lot of damage, so Lord Zeus made a ban on them." Ace explained while both Clarisse and her father grumbled something about unfair to the rest of the family.

**_"You know," Grover mumbled, "I bet Hades doesn't have trouble with door-to-door salesmen."_**

"I have a slight guess what those are and I would say that no one without allowance would get in." Hades replied in a calm tone.

**_My backpack weighed a ton now._**

Now was everyone frowning in suspicion at this sentence while a small few threw a mix of suspicious/worried looks in Ares's direction.

**_I couldn't figure out why._**

The others were also not closer to solving the mystery.

**_I wanted to open it,_**

"A good thing he didn't or he may have failed the test." Lance whispered to the others, that would have been a bad outcome.

**_check to see if I had somehow picked up a stray bowling ball,_**

There was a round of laughter from the demigods and legacies while Chiron explained those from the antique what a bowling ball was, not that it helped clearing their confusion, it would have been easier if they would already posses their Roman sides or would have been Egyptian deities to understand the contempt of rolling a ball to hit some wooden figures.

**_but this wasn't the time._**

**_"Well, guys," I said. "I suppose we should ... knock?"_**

"Good, at least he has manners." Hera said as she threw an accusing glance at Apollo and Hermes whom had gone slightly red in the face, how should they had known that Hera was about to step out of the bath and reach for the towel when they barged in.

"Did something happen**?**" Zeus asked with a raised eyebrow when seeing the flushed expression of his sons.

"NOTHING! UNCLE PELASE READ!" both Apollo and Hermes yelled, their faces if possible becoming even redder which made Hades decide to do it for them before they pass out due to too much blood in their heads, there was a limit how much stress an artily can hold out before giving up.

**_A hot wind blew down the corridor, and the doors swung open. The guards stepped aside._**

**_"I guess that means _****_entrez-vous," _****_Annabeth said._**

"You know French**?**" Silena whispered to Annabeth.

"Only a small bit to be honest, my dyslexia kind of killed the idea to learn it for me and I would need to read the grammar to not make a fool out of myself." she told the blackhead seeing that unlike the Aphrodite children, others had trouble if they decide to try learning that language.

"Well, that is nice to know." Hades spoke up suddenly when he saw what stood in the next lines, well at least will he not get a bad description.

"Huh?"

**_The room inside looked just like in my dream, except this time the throne of Hades was occupied._**

**_He was the third god I'd met, but the first who really struck me as godlike._**

"EXCUSE US!**?**" both Dionysus and Ares yelled while some of the others broke out laughing, the legacies the most.

"And to be honest, in the future most of you kind of take on to switch to new outfits and well, in some cases is it really hard to fully comprehend that you are the same gods about whom the myths are about beside Lord Hades." Nathan said, the god gave over the divine feeling even as Pluto and in that form he wore a suit just like his grandfather, but while from the former he could get that he was a divinity, by the later could he easily put him also as a politician.

"What is this supposed to mean**?**" Zeus demanded.

"The books will show though you saw already a few examples." Ace said as he looked at his grandfather dressed in a leather armour.

**_He was at least ten feet tall, for one thing, and dressed in black silk robes and a crown of braided gold. His skin was albino white, his hair shoulder-length and jet black. He wasn't bulked up like Ares, but he radiated power. He lounged on his throne of fused human bones, looking lithe, graceful, and dangerous as a panther._**

No one commented, but Persephone was nodding in agrement with that description while Apollo did the same silently, Percy had got Hades perfectly.

"Not bad, though from what I read here was this not the power of my full aura, but still impressive that he got it together." Hades said before continuing, the boy was really interesting.

**_I immediately felt like he should be giving the orders. He knew more than I did._**

"Seeing how he is a good few millennia older then you is that not a surprise." Hermes commented, finally over the memory of seeing his stepmother naked for a few seconds.

**_He should be my master._**

**_Then I told myself to snap out of it. _**

The other gods looked intrigued, usually the older the god the more powerful their aura and even if under a little bit, managing to think clearly and to break out of it was not easy.

**_Hades's aura was affecting me, just as Ares's had. The Lord of the Dead resembled pictures I'd seen of Adolph Hitler, or Napoleon, or the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers._**

"I know that one of them is my son as for the others..." he saw both Henry and En shake their heads which gave him a clue what it was. "That explains it, due to my role as guardian over the dead my aura can shift regards the pictures and seems as if Percy had noted on what my aura had picked on as he entered, probably due to him knowing who one of my demigod children was." Hades said after spotting what stood in the next line.

**_Hades had the same intense eyes, the same kind of mesmerizing, evil charisma._**

"The evil charisma part mostly depends on whose view you adapt, many things take on a different meaning if you look at them from another perspective." Octavian said as he remembered what his granduncle who had been the previous augur had once told him while they were in the temple to get some work done.

"That is true everything depends on the perspective." Sally said in full agreement while again the oldest gods shifted in their thrones.

"This is strange." Hades spoke up suddenly while Persephone narrowed her eyes, she knew that soon it will be revealed that her husband had also been victim to thievery.

**_"You are brave to come here, Son of Poseidon," he said in an oily voice. "After what you have done to me,_**

The others also exchanged confused glances with each other.

**_very brave indeed. Or perhaps you are simply very foolish."_**

"Both." the legacies said grinning.

**_Numbness crept into my joints, tempting me to lie down and just take a little nap at Hades's feet. Curl up here and sleep forever._**

The demigods shifted on their sitting spot, but did not say anything.

**_I fought the feeling and stepped forward. I knew what I had to say. "Lord and Uncle, I come with two requests."_**

"I don't know if the request part was a good idea to put in, but the first part of his sentence will certainly throw me of the loop, it is rare that some of your children come to my realm either living or dead and use a second term to address me which would indicate familiar relations." Hades said as again his siblings shifted in their thrones, but this time they were joined by the rest of the council and the past heroes whom had been to the Underworld.

**_Hades raised an eyebrow._**

"As said before, I'm not used to them openly declaring that we are related." Hades said before continuing.

**_When he sat forward in his throne, shadowy faces appeared in the folds of his black robes, faces of torment, as if the garment were stitched of trapped souls from the Fields of Punishment, trying to get out._**

"Actually those are the ones who are on a penalty time, those souls who are on Punishment, but there is a note that they might be able to become enabled for reincarnation to start anew due to remorse for their deeds, the soul gets split in half with one part continuing their punishment while the other part is by me so that I have access to the feelings and thoughts of said soul and can decide if they had passed the penalty and can be brought to Lethe and then reincarnated or the two soul parts get reunited and the punishment continues. Only because one shows remorse and the will to change does not mean that they truly mean doing so, with this on the other hand even the best fraud can't fool anyone." Hades explained in a calm tone while the others listened with interest. "Saddly is our Underworld one of the more diverse ones and not as simple as the Egyptian, though it is rather effective."

"How come?" Athena asked, she will be also asking her uncle to talk with his contacts to set her up with the other wisdom gods for some knowledge exchange.

"Easy while our Underworld beside holding also Tartaros is divided into three parts from which Punishment holds eight different prisons which are main subsections which are also divided into smaller ones, some dealing with specific crimes like murderer, sexual assault, fraud, greed and such is the Egyptian Underworld rather different, when the soul manages after a long and troublesome travel to reach the main judgement hall the weighting of the heart starts in which Anubis the god of Death and Funerals would place the heart of the deceased on one side of the scale while the other held the feather of Ma'at, the goddess of justice, order and truth. The heart would become out of balance because of failure to follow Ma'at and any hearts heavier or lighter than her feather were rejected and eaten by the Ammit, the Devourer of Souls, she is actually rather good playmates with Cerberus. Those souls on the other hand which had passed the test would be allowed to travel toward the paradise of Aaru." Hades finished while the others stared at him pale.

"I think the thing with three options where you might land is rather nice sounding." Travis said in a nervous tone.

"As said, the Underworlds of different pantheons can differ, I have all realms in one place while there are others whom have it separated." Hades added in.

"Separated, would that be not hard to control?" Hermes asked in confusion, sure they were talking about places filled with dead, but it sounded in a morbid way interesting how much informations his uncle knew about other gods, Zeus was thinking slightly along the same lines, but it was more focused on how much support Hades would have if he ever decided to rebel against him.

"The Norse gods are doing just fine with their two Underworld realms namely Valhalla and Vingólf, for mostly the righteous men or better put warriors slain in battle, then there are those who one could call the in a way the Punishment part of the Underworld, but I would say mostly the first one. Niflheim which is a world of primordial ice and cold, with nine frozen rivers though due to it being so close to the second such primordial realm Muspelheim, the realm of fire so as time passed and due to their closeness creation began when the ice of Niflheim mixed with the heat of Muspelheim to create a "creating steam" which become Helheim the world for the souls of men whom did not die a heroic or notable death, meaning you died due to sickness or old age you were not considered a true hero in their eyes." at this looked many scandalised and did not exactly get the logic of this sorting. "Though luckily for those souls is Hel the goddess ruling over that world not lead by her distaste towards her subjects if she knew them and based on their deeds in life can give them an afterlife as close to paradise as possible or terrible punishment."

"Uh…all of this is kind of confusing, but why would she not be pleased with the souls she knows?" Hermes asked his uncle who had a sad smile on his lips, the goddess certainly reminded him much on his own oldest child and felt pained for her how she and all of her siblings were treated only because of their looks and for the fact that they were their father's greatest weakness.

"She had been often mistreated by other people due to the way she looks, they feared her and were disgusted by her sight no matter how often her father reassured her that she was beautiful to him and only that should matter. You see one part of Hel's body is that of a healthy young woman with pale skin, long raven black hair and green eyes while the other part is that of a corpse." Hades explained while the others winched mostly those who remembered how they acted around Melinoe when she had been small while Persephone nodded, she now perfectly understood why her husband spoke so gently about the other goddess, she had been also reminded about their oldest child and her hardships outside of their kingdom. After a few minutes of silence Hades spoke up again. "So, do you wish to hear an update about more afterlives or can I continue with reading?" he asked while everyone gestured towards the book.

**_The ADHD part of me wondered, off-task, whether the rest of his clothes were made the same way._**

"No, they are not." Hades answered the unasked question of the others before his eyes widened and a slight blush appeared on his cheeks which both Persephone and Apollo found adorable. "Perseus Jackson, at least try having that ADHD under a minimal control would you and I don't even know how you come to such a definitely not to the situation fitting conclusion." he spluttered in embarrassment, that boy was starting to be worse then some of Aphrodite's kids or his father when he discovered that some of his siblings were a different gender then him.

"Ugh…what did that boy think again and I can only hope that he will not say whatever it was out loud to his uncle." Poseidon mumbled while covering his eyes with one of his hands, Hades only took a new horn of wine to himself before reading, he figured he would need to get over this and don't give them time to comment.

**_What horrible things would you have to do in your life to get woven into Hades's underwear?_**

Hades hurried on reading while the others stared all gapping at the book, just like those who were sitting outside stared at the palace if they had heard right, well beside Apollo whose mind decided to try having a short vacation in the gutter again.

**_"Only two requests?" Hades said. "Arrogant child. As if you have not already taken enough. Speak, then. It amuses me not to strike you dead yet."_**

"What could you mean?" Athena asked, the previous comment from Percy slightly forgotten.

"I don't care as long as he let's them talk and not striking either to death." Poseidon said, at least was his brother not one of the attack first, ask questions later type of person.

**_I swallowed. This was going about as well as I'd feared._**

"Well you are still alive and you are allowed to talk, that is actually looking at your situation pretty good." Jake said carefully.

**_I glanced at the empty, smaller throne next to Hades's. It was shaped like a black flower, gilded with gold._**

Persephone beamed at the mentioning of her throne, she really liked it.

"A tasteful idea." Aphrodite said approvingly, it also matched to the surroundings of the throne room.

**_I wished Queen Persephone were here. I recalled something in the myths about how she could calm her husband's moods._**

"Or make them worse." Persephone said sheepishly before she tried to elaborate due to her mother looking too happy about this news in her option. "You see, there are days I feel really annoyed with the way how my husband is technically only allowed to visit his home once a year, mostly that this one day is falling into the time span I can go to the Underworld…so well I kind of try to get him to make it clear to father that this idiocy is enough if he can't give a reasonable reason asto why." she explained as the older gods shifted again in her thrones, both Zeus and Demeter even stared at their daughter in slight disbelief that she would do this while Hades only shook his head, he did not like those arguments.

"Good that they don't know then that she went behind the back of her husband and made him a second symbol of power." Nathan whispered to Henry, his aunt certainly felt displeased for how her husband had been treated.

**_But it was summer. Of course, Persephone would be above in the world of light with her mother,_**

Demeter scowled a bit, so should it always be, but thanks to the idiocy of her little brother had her daughter fallen in love with Hades and by the way Aphrodite reacted sometimes was there no way to ask her to help stir her interest somewhere else.

**_the goddess of agriculture, Demeter. Her visits, not the tilt of the planet, create the seasons._**

The Chase family looked slightly interested at this while the demigods nodded though Katie from observing her sister and hearing some of her actions and reactions, she was sure that she would not mind staying longer then three months in a year.

**_Annabeth cleared her throat. Her finger prodded me in the back._**

**_"Lord Hades," I said. "Look, sir, there can't be a war among the gods. It would be ... bad."_**

"He is still using that word to describe the trouble such a war would bring." Athena said while shaking her head, the demigods on the other hand as well as two of her more immature brothers only looked amused.

**_"Really bad," Grover added helpfully._**

Now were some in trouble to keep in their snickers.

**_"Return Zeus's master bolt to me," I said. "Please, sir. Let me carry it to Olympus." _**

"Well, till now is Perce managing to sound rather diplomatic, to bad he is being that with the wrong person." Beckendorf said, but he was surprised that Hades let them talk so freely and not immediately attacking them, but seeing what they had found out so far was the god certainly like one of his roles, a judge.

**_Hades's eyes grew dangerously bright. "You dare keep up this pretense, after what you have done?"_**

"Now what's going on." Apollo asked while tilting his head to the side.

**_I glanced back at my friends. They looked as confused as I was._**

"You and us all guys." Chris said for the whole throne room and those outside.

"I don't think that the question will improve my mood, but as said the familiar term is still refreshing even if uncommon for me to hear." Hades said wanting to know what was wrong, but he had the feeling that he will not be happy when he finds out.

**_"Um ... Uncle," I said. "You keep saying 'after what you've done.' What exactly have I done?"_**

"I agree about the question part." Perseus said, he could only hope that this will end well.

**_The throne room shook with a tremor so strong, they probably felt it upstairs in Los Angeles._**

At this the demigods looked together and wondered if this could be the actual ground for the earthquakes in the L.A. area.

**_Debris fell from the cavern ceiling. Doors burst open all along the walls, and skeletal warriors marched in, hundreds of them, from every time period and nation in Western civilization._**

"Nice army." Ares said grinning wickedly while the others looked panicked.

"Not nice at all." come it from Poseidon, his awake children, Athena, Frederic, Pan and Dionysus. Zeus only wanted to figure out how large of an army his brother will posses in the future, maybe the rigging of the lot drawing was not the best of his ideas after all, it seems to backfire just like setting his daughter up with his elder brother.

**_They lined the perimeter of the room, blocking the exits._**

**_Hades bellowed, "Do you think I _****_want _****_war, godling?"_**

**_I wanted to say, _****_Well, these guys don't look like peace activists._**

There were a few weak snickers at this.

"At least is he still not attacking them." Poseidon mumbled to himself, this was at least a little relief, Zeus would have already fried he trio.

**_But I thought that might be a dangerous answer._**

There were several nods of either approval or agreement.

**_"You are the Lord of the Dead," I said carefully. "A war would expand your kingdom, right?"_**

"That was also a foolish thing to say." Hades said sighing before putting the book down again into his lap an reaching for the drinking horn and the wine. "Excuse me for a minute before I start reading about the list of things I will need to take care of, even more then now." he said while filling the horn and opening he next bottle while he was at it, the others only looked at him with slight worry.

After two more refilling was Hades ready to continue.

**_"A typical thing for my brothers to say!_**

Said brothers flinched.

**_Do you think I need more subjects? Did you not see the sprawl of the Asphodel Fields?"_**

"It was already bad enough hearing bout them." Jay said, those had been rather large numbers.

**_"Well..."_**

**_"Have you any idea how much my kingdom has swollen in this past century alone, how many subdivisions I've had to open?"_**

Some of the gods were staring blinking at Hades who keept on reading with a pained expression on his face as Perspehone rubbed his back.

**_I opened my mouth to respond, but Hades was on a roll now._**

Somehow were most not even surprised.

**_"More security ghouls," he moaned. "Traffic problems at the judgment pavilion. Double overtime for the staff._**

With each sentence everyone flinched harder, they had no clue that it was this hard down there and rememberin what Nathan had said about chaos ont he days a nature catastrophe happened, they could now clearly imagine it.

**_I used to be a rich god, Percy Jackson. I control all the precious metals under the earth. But my expenses!"_**

Looking at the next sentence Hades winched, that boy really did not know when to stay quiet.

**_"Charon wants a pay raise," I blurted, just remembering the fact._**

Cue groans and a good deal of whines along the lines of _"Percy!"_ could be heard all around of Olymphos.

**_As soon as I said it, I wished I could sew up my mouth._**

"You don't say, even Bellerophon knows when it is a bad time to comment." Orion said before being hit over the head by said brother.

**_"Don't get me started on Charon!" Hades yelled. "He's been impossible ever since he discovered Italian suits! Problems everywhere, and I've got to handle all of them personally._**

Everyone flinched again while Poseidon bowed his head and Hera glared at Zeus, the two brothers may be the rulers of their realms, but if they had much to do and a problem arose they just sent a servant or another god, neither of them took care about all problems personally.

"Ugh…that certainly must be tiresome and frustrating." Katie said somatically, ruling the Underworld was not easy.

"Lord Hades certainly takes his job as a ruler serious." Castor said as the others nodded their heads in agreement, the Lord of the Underworld had certainly their respect regards this.

**_The commute time alone from the palace to the gates is enough to drive me insane! And the dead just keep arriving._**

Poseidon flinched again while making a mental note that by the next pause he will corner his brother and offer some help like he should have done long decades ago, he was really starting to wonder if this unhealthy pale look his brother's skin held had not in truth to do with the stress he is constantly under and not the lack of light in his realm as he had suspected.

**_No, _****_godling. I need no help getting subjects! I did not ask for this war."_**

"And we are getting closer to the truth." Hermes stated while the legacies tried not to flinch, the end of the book will be certainly not easy on the god.

**_"But you took Zeus's master bolt."_**

**_"Lies!" More rumbling. Hades rose from his throne, towering to the height of a football goalpost. "Your father may fool Zeus, boy, but I am not so stupid. I see his plan."_**

Everyone was frowning when they suddenly remembered that a second item was stolen and Hades's words during this chapter…suddenly some eyes widened in realization, no wonder Hades would be suspicious no matter how he knows that thievery is not in the nature of his younger brother.

**_"His plan?"_**

**_"You _****_were the thief on the winter solstice," he said. "Your father thought to keep you his little secret. He directed you into the throne room on Olympus, You took the master bolt _****_and _****_my helmet._**

"Great, no wonder this mess, my Trident is the only one not stolen and my against the oath demigod child was discovered." Poseidon groaned, this was just wonderful and he could not even blame his siblings on getting to that conclusion that Percy may have taken it.

"This happens when you ignore your own doings." Sally told her grandfather who nodded his head.

"Though why didn't you tell us brother that you had also something stolen?" Hestia asked her younger brother who gave her a sad smile. "My answer comes in a couple of sentences." he told her in a gentle tone which left her frowning, she did not like it that he had not told them that something happened.

**_Had I not sent my Fury to discover you at Yancy Academy, Poseidon might have succeeded in hiding his scheme to start a war. But now you have been forced into the open. You will be exposed as Poseidon's thief, and I will have my helmet back!"_**

"And as you can see, he does not want your toy." Hera whispered to Zeus while looking at him sternly.

**_"But ..." Annabeth spoke. I could tell her mind was going a million miles an hour. "Lord Hades, your helmet of darkness is missing, too?"_**

Everyone knew that this was not good, this was slowly morphing into a three-way war which was even worse then a two way one if it comes to divinities.

**_"Do not play innocent with me, girl. You and the satyr have been helping this hero—coming here to threaten me in Poseidon's name, no doubt—to bring me an ultimatum. Does Poseidon think I can be blackmailed into supporting him?"_**

"We kind of were informed that it would not work and seeing that nice army there..." Trickster said carefully it was really a wonder that Lord Pluto had till now not given the order to even restrain the trio.

**_"No!" I said. "Poseidon didn't—I didn't—"_**

**_"I have said nothing of the helmet's disappearance," Hades snarled, "because I had no illusions that anyone on Olympus would offer me the slightest justice, the slightest help. _**

The gods flinched and stared guiltily at their laps, they did not know how they would have reacted in the future if Hades did tell them, but it would have probably not involved caring about the fact. Hestia felt the most heart broken about the thought that her sweet little brother would feel this alienated from his family that he thought that he could not turn to either of them for support.

**_I can ill afford for word to get out that my most powerful weapon of fear is missing._**

If possible some of the gods looked even more guilty while the demigods shifted on their sitting spot, they kind of felt sorry for the god.

**_So I searched for you myself, and when it was clear you were coming to me to deliver your threat, I did not try to stop you."_**

"So this is why the Kindly Ones held themselves back and asked for the Helm." Reyna said in a thoughtful tone, the thief had done a good job in creating distrust between the gods and she guessed that it had been the thief who did the same by the cabins, she was starting to get an idea who it could have been.

"Wonderful, he got me on one of my more stressed days." Hades said, he only resulted to threats when he was both extremly tired and frustrated.

"Soo good to hear." Poseidon grumbled, yes he will definiatley arrange some work help for his brother.

**_"You didn't try to stop us? But—"_**

"There had been quiet a number of monsters and we know that Zeus sent Echidna, but the others..." no one liked the implication mostly that they remembered Henry's comment regards the loyalty of the Furies.

As said things didn't look good at all.

**_"Return my helmet now, or I will stop death," Hades threatened._**

"Ugh…anything, but that it had been terribly boring when Thanatos was imprisoned, I don't want to kow what will be when you send him on vacation." Ares groaned while the legacies tried not to show their flinch seeing that soon death will be stopped again, but not due to Thanatos going on a vacation.

**_"That is my counterproposal._**

"Actually if Percy would have been the actual culprit then this would be a pretty good counterproposal." Athena said in a thoughtful tone.

**_I will open the earth and have the dead pour back into the world. I will make your lands a nightmare. And you, Percy Jackson—_****_your _****_skeleton will lead my army out of Hades." _**

A good deal of people shuddered while the legacies tried not to grin seeing how minus the last part of the sentence Hades kind of just did that in the Battle of Manhattan when he arrived to fight against Kronos and his army.

**_The skeletal soldiers all took one step forward, making their weapons ready._**

**_At that point, I probably should have been terrified. The strange thing was, I felt offended. _**

"Nah, with you is that pretty normal uncle Perce that you fail to have the feeling you should feel in a given bad situation…or thoughts." Lance added as an afterthought while some of the others bit back groans.

**_Nothing gets me angrier than being accused of something I didn't do. I've had a lot of experience with that._**

Cue more groans while Poseidon and some of his children pleaded that Percy does not say something offending or worse, does something offending.

**_"You're as bad as Zeus," I said._**

Poseidon groaned, while Hades did his best to not look offended he had on some days really not the best option about his youngest sibling or his actions.

**_"You think I stole from you? That's why you sent the Furies after me?"_**

**_"Of course," Hades said._**

**_"And the other monsters?"_**

"I really don't like my answer seeing how we mostly know about who had sent Echidna." cue dark looks at Zeus.

**_Hades curled his lip._**

At this indicated to those who knew him that the question bothered him.

**_"I had nothing to do with them. I wanted no quick death for you—I wanted you brought before me alive so you might face every torture in the Fields of Punishment. Why do you think I let you enter my kingdom so easily?"_**

**_"Easily?"_**

"Yes, if not for the defective shoes it would have been easier." Sally told the others.

**_"Return my property!"_**

**_"But I don't have your helmet. I came for the master bolt."_**

"I hope that this will be explained soon how this had worked, but on the other hand" here Hades looked up at his youngest sibling "Zeus, for all of our shake what needs our father to do more as a show of his power till you finally decide to make a move." he said before turning back to the book, now he knew the answer for his nephews strange behaviour some chapters ago, the others looked only confused and slightly nervous.

**_"Which you already possess!" Hades shouted. "You came here with it, little fool, thinking you could you threaten me!"_**

Now was everyone frowning again, how could Percy had it all this time and not notice it, this made no sense at all.

**_"But I didn't!"_**

**_"Open your pack, then."_**

Suddenly everyones eyes started to widen.

"I also hope that we get an explaining how that is possible, but on the other matter I agree with uncle father, it seems clear that it had been grandfather who had somehow directed Ares's actions." Athena said while looking worriedly at her brother who had gone slightly pale as did Clarisse, she was not happy about this news.

"I dearly hope for you Zeus that you will be moving before one of your children gets hurt due to your stuborn denial." Hestia told her younger brother sternly, while the legacies tried not to flinch, till Zeus finally acts were two of his daughters hurt and nearly lost their lives and a good deal of his grandchildren got injured.

**_A horrible feeling struck me. The weight in my backpack, like a bowling ball. It couldn't be..._**

Everyone wanted to know the same thing, the weight of the backpack grew since their unwanted trip to the entrance of Tartaros, but they knew that Kronos did not have the bolt and it was that Percy would be the one delivering it without his knowledge…this all made no sense to them.

**_I slung it off my shoulder and unzipped it_****_. _****_Inside was a two-foot-long metal cylinder, spiked on both ends, humming with energy._**

Several peple shook their heads in confusion, you just couldn't miss the fact that you are carrying something like that around, mostly if they remember that Annabeth even used it as a pillow once, if noting else she would have surely noticed that something was in the pack. That Bolt was not tought as a pillow.

**_"Percy," Annabeth said. "How—"_**

**_"I—I don't know. I don't understand."_**

"Neither do we!" chorused the others, this was just frustrating.

**_"You heroes are always the same," Hades said. "Your pride makes you foolish, _**

"And that is something most heroes can not argue about." Orpheus said with a sigh, pride was something most heroes lost their lives for.

**_thinking you could bring such a weapon before me. I did not ask for Zeus's master bolt,_**

"Though if you have it you could use it as a bargain chip to force father to call of his army." Athena said in a thoughtful tone, this would be the most logical step.

"On whose side are you on daughter?" Zeus asked in annoyance.

"I only stated the most logical step which is presented by the given situation father." Athena answered back.

**_but since it is here, you will yield it to me. I am sure it will make an excellent bargaining tool._**

Athena nodded, glad that someone had come to the same conclusion as her.

**_And now ... my helmet. Where is it?"_**

"I fear that there is little hope there that it is also in the backpack." Dakota said, the situation did not look good, but at least had Lord Pluto still not given the order to attack and was still letting them speak.

**_I was speechless._**

Everyone nodded in understanding.

**_I had no helm. I had no idea how the master bolt had gotten into my backpack._**

More, this time slightly annoyed looks as some still tried to figure out the mystery of the backpack.

**_I wanted to think Hades was pulling some kind of trick. Hades was the bad guy. But suddenly the world turned sideways._**

"Well, this is slightly better then upside down and yellow." Nathan said as he remembered how his dad and uncle Percy overdid a storm.

"Excuse us?" come several confused and slightly bewildered voices.

"Eight book." Nathan answered.

**_I realized I'd been played with. Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades had been set at each other's throats_**

"Just like our cabins." Clarisse growled, she was angry that her father had been used as a toy, that her cabin was set up to fight the others to serve as a diversion, if she finds out who that little worm was who caused all of this…

**_by someone else. The master bolt had been in the backpack, and I'd gotten the backpack from ..._**

"He is following a good lead, but Ares had also been a victim of our grandfather and his little servant." Hera said testily, she was feeling annoyed with her father, he was the last.

**_"Lord Hades, wait," I said. "This is all a mistake."_**

**_"A mistake?" Hades roared._**

**_The skeletons aimed their weapons. From high above, there was a fluttering of leathery wings, and the three Furies swooped down to perch on the back of their master's throne. The one with Mrs. Dodds's face grinned at me eagerly and flicked her whip._**

"And so the test starts." Enysswe said in a calm tone.

"What test?" Annabeth asked in confusion while the girl grinned back at her.

"A test issued by those who ordered granduncle Poseidon to send a messenger and arrange a meeting and mostly that they ordered to give him only three pearls even thought there is a fourth person, also grandfather Hades was also informed by the ones issuing the test about the pearls and the whereabouts of the Master Bolt and told what to do to start the test, but not to reveal what he was told about." she explained while the others looked at her by surprise, slowly getting that the test would involve deciding if Percy saves his mother or someone stays behind, but Enysswe had not told them what is the solving of the test, they only knew that Percy must have passed for his mother and the three were fine.

**_"There is no mistake," Hades said. "I know why you have come—I know the _****_real _****_reason you brought the bolt. You came to bargain for _****_her_****_."_**

No one could make a comment seeing how they now knew that Hades was acting on orders just as Poseidon did when he had sent the messenger.

**_Hades loosed a ball of gold fire from his palm. It exploded on the steps in front of me, and there was my mother, frozen in a shower of gold, just as she was at the moment when the Minotaur began to squeeze her to death._**

**_I couldn't speak. I reached out to touch her, but the light was as hot as a bonfire._**

"She is still a living being, her life energy would because of this fact be still hot to the touch and also this is the ground for the golden light, when one dies that light goes completely out and the warmth is replaced by cold." Hades explained to the others, he did not need to tell that the dead are because of this drawn to the living, they miss the warmth of life no matter how painful it might have been, the ground why he felt so drawn to his wife who held so much life and warmth in her, he carved for warmth for his own body could never be like that of others, he would be always cold to the touch.

**_"Yes," Hades said with satisfaction. "I took her. I knew, Percy Jackson, that you would come to bargain with me eventually._**

"You are a really good actor, this certainly sounds logical and believable." Athena said, if not for what the legacies had told them and they had read till now she would really believe that things had been just like her uncle had said.

**_Return my helmet, and perhaps I will let her go. She is not dead, you know. Not yet. But if you displease me, that will change."_**

**_I thought about the pearls in my pocket. Maybe they could get me out of this. If I could just get my mom free..._**

**_"Ah, the pearls," Hades said, and my blood froze._**

Everyone leaned further in their seats, they wanted to know how Percy will solve the test and what will happen.

**_"Yes, my brother and his little tricks. Bring them forth, Percy Jackson."_**

**_My hand moved against my will and brought out the pearls._**

**_"Only three," Hades said. "What a shame. You do realize each only protects a single person. Try to take your mother, then, little godling. And which of your friends will you leave behind to spend eternity with me? Go on. Choose. Or give me the backpack and accept my terms."_**

Now tha Hades had explained it they understood the test, Percy would need to use his pearl whle deciding if he saves his mother for the price of leaving one of his friends behind or all three of them leave and return the Master Bolt to Zeus. Even thought there was the third option Hades offered, but a few guessed that duing so may mean failing the test by whoever had set it. Artemis was the only one who did not lean forward in her thorne, but bacwards, she waited patiently to know if this young hero was turly differnt then the other male heroes before him who would betray thier comrades if there was an oportunity for that.

**_I looked at Annabeth and Grover. Their faces were grim._**

**_"We were tricked," I told them. "Set up."_**

**_"Yes, but why?" Annabeth asked. "And the voice in the pit—"_**

Everyone mumbled a few choosen curse words towards Kronos.

**_"I don't know yet," I said. "But I intend to ask."_**

**_"Decide, boy!" Hades yelled._**

**_"Percy." Grover put his hand on my shoulder. "You can't give him the bolt."_**

**_"I know that."_**

Zeus nodded his head in approval.

**_"Leave me here," he said. "Use the third pearl on your mom."_**

Everyone waited tensily for the answer.

**_"No!"_**

**_"I'm a satyr," Grover said. "We don't have souls like humans do. He can torture me until I die, but he won't get me forever. I'll just be reincarnated as a flower or something. It's the best way."_**

The Roman demigods again looked surpraised even thought they were not sure why that was, since they had started reading had they found out that fauns have much more to them then they would have ever thought and there were other things they had learned about.

**_"No." Annabeth drew her bronze knife. "You two go on._**

Athena, Frederic, Malcolm, Bobby and Mathew took in a sharp intake of breath at this while Annabeth looked at the ground, she did not wish to see her mother's and brother's expression.

**_Grover, you have to protect Percy. You have to get your searcher's license and start your quest for Pan. Get his mom out of here. I'll cover you. I plan to go down fighting."_**

Athena wanted to groan, but she forced herself to remember that she was fine in the future and not dead.

**_"No way," Grover said. "I'm staying behind."_**

**_"Think again, goat boy," Annabeth said._**

"You know that in a depressing and heart clenching way is this wish to help rather adorable." Aphrodite said with a sad smile on her lips.

**_"Stop it, both of you!" I felt like my heart was being ripped in two. They had both been with me through so much. I remembered Grover dive-bombing Medusa in the statue garden, and Annabeth saving us from Cerberus; we'd survived Hephaestus's Waterland ride,_**

There were a few small grins about how that one sounded.

**_the St. Louis Arch, the Lotus Casino. I had spent thousands of miles worried that I'd be betrayed by a friend, but these friends would never do that._**

The legacies and those few who had figured it out who that friend will be did their best to hide their bitter smiles.

**_They had done nothing but save me, over and over, and now they wanted to sacrifice their lives for my mom._**

Some of the girls had again tears in their eyes.

"It seems that he has figured out his final answer for the test." Hades said as his dark eyes skimmed over the next lines, a hero different from all his predecessors, he was starting to see what the Fates had meant.

**_"I know what to do," I said. "Take these."_**

**_I handed them each a pearl._**

**_Annabeth said, "But, Percy ..."_**

**_I turned and faced my mother. I desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and use the last pearl on her, but I knew what she would say. She would never allow it. I had to get the bolt back to Olympus and tell Zeus the truth. I had to stop the war. She would never forgive me if I saved her instead. _**

Now broke a number of the girls out crying again while Artemis looked intrigued at the book.

**_I thought about the prophecy made at Half-Blood Hill, what seemed like a million years ago. _****_You will fail to save what matters most in the end._**

"It was talking about his mom…" Silena said in realization, they should have known what the last line means, even the prophecy had in a way foreshadowed the test and an answer for it.

**_"I'm sorry," I told her. "I'll be back. I'll find a way."_**

There were several small smiles at this because they knew that she was fine and still in the world of the living.

**_The smug look on Hades's face faded. He said, "Godling ... ?"_**

"As much as I appreciate his words, he should have left out the last part." Hades said in a slightly amused tone, he really understood his future self that he could not make a clear rhyme about his nephew.

**_"I'll find your helmet, Uncle," I told him. "I'll return it. Remember about Charon's pay raise."_**

No one held back their snickers at the last comment.

**_"Do not defy me—"_**

**_"And it wouldn't hurt to play with Cerberus once in a while. He likes red rubber balls."_**

"As already said, I do play with him or find someone to do that." Hades said, the chapter would be finished soon and he only emptied one and a quarter of the three wine bottles, but he would keep those in case Poseidon needs some of it.

**_"Percy Jackson, you will not—"_**

"You know, I think being so often called uncle may have thrown him rather fast into that role." Misty whispered to Lance with a small grin on her face.

**_I shouted, "Now, guys!"_**

**_We smashed the pearls at our feet. For a scary moment, nothing happened._**

**_Hades yelled, "Destroy them!"_**

**_The army of skeletons rushed forward, swords out, guns clicking to full automatic. The Furies lunged, their whips bursting into flame._**

**_Just as the skeletons opened fire, the pearl fragments at my feet exploded with a burst of green light and a gust of fresh sea wind. I was encased in a milky white sphere, which was starting to float off the ground._**

"They were rally lucky that Lord Pluto held his soldiers back right till the pearls started working." Reyna said in a thoughtful tone while those who heard her nodded their heads in agreement.

**_Annabeth and Grover were right behind me. Spears and bullets sparked harmlessly off the pearl bubbles as we floated up. Hades yelled with such rage, the entire fortress shook and I knew it was not going to be a peaceful night in L.A._**

**_"Look up.'" Grover yelled. "We're going to crash!"_**

**_Sure enough, we were racing right toward the stalactites, which I figured would pop our bubbles and skewer us._**

**_"How do you control these things?" Annabeth shouted._**

**_"I don't think you do!" I shouted back._**

Everyone looked over to Poseidon who nodded his head that they were really not controlable.

**_We screamed as the bubbles slammed into the ceiling and ... Darkness._**

**_Were we dead?_**

A good deal of people tensed.

_**No, I could still feel the racing sensation. We were going up, right through solid rock as easily as an air bubble in water. That was the power of the pearls, I realized—****What belongs to the sea will always return to the sea.**_

"They're in the ocean." Athena said.

**_For a few moments, I couldn't see anything outside the smooth walls of my sphere, then my pearl broke through on the ocean floor. The two other milky spheres, Annabeth and Grover, kept pace with me as we soared upward through the water. And—_****_ker-blam!_**

**_We exploded on the surface, in the middle of the Santa Monica Bay, knocking a surfer off his board with an indignant, "Dude!"_**

There were a few snickers at this, but people felt mostly relieved that the three were fine.

"I mostly prefer the travel roses, they are in a way a bit faster and you land on a dry place." Mich commented grinning.

"Travel Roses?" asked a few people in confusion.

"For the case of still living visitors and that they don't need to take the longer ways back to the surface had grandmother Persephone made them." Enysswe explained while her grandmother smiled at the knowledge.

"And before someone makes an idiotic remark, no they will not land you in the middle of a rose bush." Henry added in when he saw Hermes and the Stolls open their mouths.

**_I grabbed Grover and hauled him over to a life buoy. I caught Annabeth and dragged her over too. A curious shark was circling us, a great white about eleven feet long._**

**_I said, "Beat it."_**

**_The shark turned and raced away._**

"Remind me to have him along if we ever make a beach day." Connor whispered to Travis and Chris.

**_The surfer screamed something about bad mushrooms and paddled away from us as fast as he could._**

This brought a new round of laughter from the demigods and some of the gods.

**_Somehow, I knew what time it was: early morning, June 21, the day of the summer solstice._**

"And as pointed out a few times, he has perfect bearings at the sea." Sally said grinning.

**_In the distance, Los Angeles was on fire, plumes of smoke rising from neighborhoods all over the city. There had been an earthquake, all right, and it was Hades's fault. He was probably sending an army of the dead after me right now._**

"Not exactly at that time was he busy giving the report about the test which you have passed," Enysswe said while the heroes of the past exchanged a glance with each other, not sure if they would have managed to pass such a test. "Those whom he had sent after you will be in the next chapter."

**_But at the moment, the Underworld wasn't my biggest problem._**

**_I had to get to shore. I had to get Zeus's thunderbolt back to Olympus. Most of all, I had to have a serious conversation with the god who'd tricked me._**

"Sorry Perce, but it seems that the one who had tricked you is not a god, but a titan and you should really not talk with him." Apollo said grinning as he walked over to Hades who set the book down and was looking at the others. "I will read the next chapter." he told the other while trying to enjoy the closeness of the other as long as those seconds hold.

"Before that I remember that granduncle Poseidon wanted to know which oracles did that prophecy regards uncle Percy." Enysswe spoke up as her grandfather sat back down on his throne.

"True, so could you tell me their names please." Poseidon said while En grinned.

"I could write to them seeing that it were my grandaunts the Fates, they were also the ones issuing the test for uncle Percy." she told a pale Sea God who immediately shook his head in the negative.

"There is really no need for that, we should continue reading seeing how the first book is almost done, Apollo read." Poseidon said hurriedly, he was not dumb enough to offend the Fates.

_To be continued…_


	20. A nice day for a beach fight

A/N: so here is a new chapter and I think my day may have influenced at least the starting part of the chapter so now please guys _try_ to pay attention to what I say: _**THE FIRST PART OF THE STORY MAY GIVE THOSE WHO ARE READING "**_**STORYTIME AT****BROOKLYN HOUSE"**_** SERIOUS SPOILERS IF THEY HAD MISSED THE HINT SO THREE CHAPTERS AGO DURING THE DESERT SCENE. THOSE WHO DON'T WISH TO BE SPOILED SKIP TO THE NEXT PART OF THE CHAPTER! **_Also here is something other I would like to point out so like by the chapter in which Christianity got a critique, you should skip that part if you would feel offended by it, if you still read it then it was _**your**_ decision and _not_ mine, I pointed it out to skip it.

_**WARNING: THE FIRST PART OF THE CHAPTER WILL INCLUDE THE MENTIONING OF MURDER-SUICIDE WITH ALSO A RATHER YOUNG VICTIM, IF YOU KNOW THAT IT WILL UPSET YOU SKIP THE FIRST PART OF THE STORY OR ONLY THAT PART! **_… To be fully honest I did not even plan to put this part into the story though those who have read the above mentioned other story had some hints regards this, though if you wish to blame something then blame those who had posted up fifteen missing chapters from Itou Junji-sensei's wonderful manga collection and that one of my friends got the new Evil Dead movie on DVD and we watched it with our friend group, so horror manga and a slasher movie, yeah that can sway people.

* * *

XX. A nice day for a beach fight

_**Camp Half-Blood, Long Island – Present**_

Everything was a flurry of excitement between the campers of CHB, not that it was not always this lively, but that almost increased tenfold when it was time for the Tournament Week. Demigods and legacies of different ages were running around the cabins to clean everything, the remains of the last great paint-ball war were proving to be rather stubborn, so the Hecate cabin needed to take it into their hands after those from cabin six failed. No one wanted to let the Ares cabin take care about it when they suddenly appeared with double headed axes on their shoulders.

This year had Camp Jupiter arrived a bit earlier due to the requested attendance on Olymphos for the Senate members Jason and Reyna Grace as well as Frank and Hazel Zhang so the Greeks and Romans started the work together, well after Chiron and Lupa were done with the usual scolding that is.

Banners were put out, flowers made to bloom and plants to grow, many run around with cleaning utensils like brooms and feather dusters to help the cleaning harpies out in their job, satyrs played their songs for the nature magic to spread, calling on a swarm of butterflies, laughter and happiness filled the air. The nymphs were busy making food for the hard working children while discussing plans regards what to make when their mortal and godly guests arrive at camp.

"Great, we are soon done with this part of camp." come it from a partly Asian looking girl with long raven black hair, decorated with sky-blue highlights. She had been just putting up the last pair of ribbons on one of the several cabins assigned to her when her blue eyes fell on three nearing people whom she had not expected to see for another two months. "Tori? Xander? Ray? "she asked in confusion while climbing down on the ladder, gaining the attention of the trio.

"Hey, Kelly seems as if you guys are coming along rather well with the work." Victoria or Tori as most tended to call her said, but Kelly was not without a ground a legacy of Aphrodite and could note that something was off with the demigod; the feeling of protectiveness towards loved ones was almost like a barrier of granite around her, not that her twin Alexander was doing any better.

"Did something happen that you two seem so agitated?" she asked the twins while Rayen, their cousin only sighed as he looked at her with a pained expression on his face.

"You could say that, but if you think these two spread of the feeling of murderousness you should see my uncle, he is ready to commit the act!" he said while throwing his hands up in the air "Meaning, uncle Amos will be quiet busy to get him to calm down, they will come here after the danger has passed." Rayen groaned while hoping that his dad was not at Brooklyn House at the given moment or there would be blood. Rayen was a tall teen with finely toned muscles muscles, slightly tanned skin and tussled black hair, his blue eyes and stance always held a type of confidence in them which Kelly really liked.

"That does not exactly tell me much about the ground." Kelly replied back, but did take a step back when Tori let out a canine like growl, it was kind of scary seeing that when it come to the twins was Victoria always the calmer one and the person who stopped her brother and cousin from constantly fighting. The later thing had much to do with the fact that Alexander was in nature much like his mother and Rayen was like his own father, meaning leave those two alone unsupervised and a disaster is bound to happen.

No matter her confusion and slight fear, the head of the Aphrodite cabin kept her gaze on the other girl as she tried to figure out what could be wrong. As said was Victoria much calmer, probably due to her coming more after her magician father, the twins seemed to also favour the parent in their looks to whose personality they stood the closest to. Alexander the slightly older of the two had pale skin with shoulder length black hair and sharp features, his brown eyes which he had interestingly inherited from his father always seemed to shine with a tinge of crimson when he was angry, like at the given time. Tori on the other hand had unlike her brother a darker skin complexion which Kelly always associated with the colour of milk chocolate, slightly softer features then her brother and amber eyes like the desert, but just like by Xander they also held a crimson glow if angry, her long raven black hair was usually braided with small jewels, this time gold like the Camp Khepry T-shirt, - with the Camp name in orange-red letters and a large Scarab in the middle -, the trio wore, her to the jewels matching glasses and had were never missing. Finally after what seemed like an eternity the twins sighed in defeat, but that fact did not make Kelly feel all to much reassured seeing how there was another thing to the twins beside the red in their eyes when they were angry or really frustrated, namely the fact that currently both sported their shaa like ears and tail, Xander's crimson like his animal form and Tori's black with the tips of their tail and ears by both siblings being gold. Since they were not toddlers anymore had the two a better grip on their transformations and if it should still happen then the feeling making them do the partial change may give ground for worry.

"Sorry, it is just that before we got here had dad a conference regards Ancient Priest-hood in Egypt during the twelfth dynasty in the Brooklyn Museum with mom accompanying him there." Alexander started explaining, his tail swinging beside his folded arms angrily while Kelly nodded, due to his brother being kind of preoccupied with ruling their Underworld and people thinking him dead after a terrorist attack was it often the Chief Lector who gave symposiums and made some studies known. "There it seems that dad meet up by accident with his _ex_ " Kelly noted how both of them seemed to scowl and something told her that Alexander would have liked to use a much different and preferably unkinder word then the one he did, but did not interrupt. "So yes, dad being the understanding and caring person he is agreed to talk with her in the Egyptian section and that ugh… _woman_ seriously…" here Victoria interrupted in a venomous tone.

"She technically attempted seducing our dad to give her a new chance so that they could start over, mom noted the distress coming from dad and went looking for him and stepped between them before she could throw herself at him. Would have really loved to see her dumbfoulted face when mom informed her that she was married to dad, and to make things more fun that person was even there with another guy, an ex-classmate whose uncle was her psychiater. Really the nerve of her, there are things that can be forgiven, but that she thought that she could recoil with dad as more then maybe friends _after_ what she had dared to do against him…" Victoria finished in an agitated tone while Kelly hoped that she would elaborate, sure love dramas were interesting, but she also knew the relationship between the twins parents and well, it is not healthy to try stepping between them, but she needed to ask seeing that this might be the ground for the anger in the first place, damn she was spending way to much time with Sally and Ben.

"What had she done against your dad?" she asked in the most diplomatic tone she could muster, to bad that Charmspeak did not work with the Egyptian demigods, so they will either answer or not. Luckily it looked as if having been assigned to work with the Tyche cabin may have rubbed some luck on her.

"Technically, when she and dad dated, this was shortly before uncle Julius and aunt Ruby married, as it happens she got pregnant," Kelly had a few guesses where this would be leading and due to neither twin having ever mentioned having another half-sibling beside Anubis was she not liking the end results in her mind. "When she found out she pulled something similar like aunt Nephthys and hid it till dad needed to get back to Brooklyn for he was made the new head of the Twenty-First and she worked in England. So after our half-brother was born she gave him just like that over to her cousin and did as if noting ever happened." here Kelly shook her head while from the corner of her eyes she saw Rayen look confused, indicating that he did not know the story and that he was also confused why this happened seeing how the father of the twins was wonderful with children. "This went well for three years when things turned bad seeing how the cousin's husband who had our brother did a good deal of bad investments and they ended up in a financial catastrophe which he hid from his wife till things become so much out of hand that he saw no other way out then one" Kelly felt cold dread run up her spine while Rayen stiffened and stared at his cousins. "He took a shotgun and killed both his wife and our brother and then pointed the barrel at himself end of story. Dad being considerate went to the funeral where not only was he asked to spend some time going different ways, meaning breaking up, but was also so lovingly informed that the child which's casket was just lowered into the ground had been his. Also guess what pathetic ground she gave for not saying a thing about the pregnancy and giving our brother away? The incredible idiocy that dad seemed like a person who does not want to burden himself with children so soon!" this last sentence of reasoning made both Kelly and Rayen forget for a few seconds about the depressing end of two innocent lives.

"Which is the biggest gryphon crap I had ever heard! If anything I find it a wonder that your dad still only has you two as kids." Rayen spoke up, he may be often and odds with Alexander, but if one was clear then that his cousin's dad was practicularly born for the role of a father-figure.

"I agree, if she could not see that your dad loves children then she should really have never gotten involved with him in the first place. Beside that I doubt that your parents would ever let someone separate them." Kelly told the twins reassuringly when suddenly something other occurred to her. "By the way, not that I mind having you here, but how come that you have come today?" she asked the trio who gave her a small grin, their previous bad mood lessening a small bit.

"We got an invite to join in the Tournament Week, the other godly parents, gods and a few magicians from the House will come later on to make things more interesting for the visiting mortals." Tori said before something dark blue, black and gold rushed at her only to reveal a small girl around five with shoulder length black hair and warm brown eyes.

"Tori, Sherry and Kevin are looking for you three." the little girl said grinning before she noticed that there was a person she did not know. "Hi" she said smiling while still clinging to Victoria.

"Hi, my name is Kelly and who might you be?" she asked the small child, they were so adorable at this age.

"This is…", but Alexander was interrupted when the small girl looked at him pouting.

"I can introduce myself uncle Xander" she said while Kelly looked intrigued at the term she used for the older demigod who held his hands up in defeat. "My name is Nina Jones, Daughter of Anubis." she said proudly while Kelly turned to the siblings.

"Your certainly have a lively niece." she told the pair with a grin on her lips, she had not known that Anubis had found a mortal lover, till now she only knew of Sobek, Sekhmet, Heka, Seshat and Ahy.

"You don't even know half of it Kell, so Nina where are those two?" Alexander asked his niece.

"They were close to the beach." she replied back at which the older demigods and one legacy exchanged confused glances seeing how Sherry was a daughter of Sekhmet and with whom she went there.

"Ok, by Kevin I don't wonder that he went to help out down there regards who his father is, but that Sherry headed there and not to where the Apollo kids are is a bit unusual, she tends to avoid large bodies of water when Kevin is near." Rayen added in when Kelly remembered something.

"If I remember right were the Apollo, Iris and Hebe cabins the ones tasked with the work on the beach, well the residual work after Luke and Sally finished." she told them.

"That reminds me, where are the two anyway? We had passed the Poseidon cabin and it looked fairly deserted." Rayen said when there was suddenly a male voice from behind them.

"I was asking myself the same question." turning around they spotted a man standing behind them with shoulder length honey blonde hair and thin framed glasses before his gray eyes.

"They may be plotting something for the Tournament Week Uncle Malcolm." Kelly said smiling, but on the inside was she not sure, but now that the missing of the Jackson siblings was mentioned, she also missed Ace, Lance, Misty, En and Mitch seeing how since a while she only saw their seconds-in-command direct their cabins around and Lily seemed to act strangely, well according to Monica who was to become the new Oracle of Delphi.

"May be it, though if you see them inform me please, I will be by the Big House, Pollux asked me this morning to help Chiron and Lupa keep an eye on you kids till he is back from Olymphos with the others." Malcolm said while looking up at the blue sky wistfully.

"Do you think that they will accept it?" Kelly asked her uncle while the Egyptian demigods decided to depart seeing how they did not wish to intrigue on this conversation and to make sure that there is not fight breaking out on the beach.

"I don't know to be honest, on one side it would probably be a beneficial decision to make, but on the other the price would be painful to bear. This is not a light decision to make and one must consider their answer well if both the gain and loss seem to weight the same as the other, but whatever the decision will be, it will be the right one for them." Malcolm answered back to his niece with a small smile on his lips when a warm breeze passed them carrying the sweet scent of flowers in it.

* * *

_**Mount Olymphos, Greece – Past**_

Everyone in the throne room was patiently waiting for Apollo to finally stop laughing and to just start reading already which he managed after three more minutes and a few deep breaths.

"Sorry everyone, it is just that Percy really has a way with titles." Apollo said while whipping a tear from the corner of his eyes. "The next title is, _"_**_I Battle my Jerk Relative," _**at which everyone stared gapping at the book, not sure if they had heard right and they were certainly not meaning the option part regards what type of relative Percy thinks that Ares is.

"You mean to tell me that Percy will…?" Poseidon could not even finish the sentence, he felt extremely close to become a puddle again while Theseus let out again a pitiful sound.

"Yep, now it is really clear why it is good that Theseus is sleeping through these two chapters." Orion told Bellerophon who nodded his head in agreement, their brother would be unbearable if he would be awake if his reactions so far were any indication, and he also feared that Orpheus may take retribution on them for setting him up with the blackhead.

"Great, now he is also taking it up with a god." Hercules mumbled under his breath when he had suddenly a strange feeling as if being watched, turning carefully to his side he spotted the Dark Princess, he would certainly stick to this name for her, looking at him with slightly narrowed eyes. Ugh…she really made his feel uncomfortable.

"Just read Apollo, it would be good to start the next book before it is time for lunch." Artemis told her brother who nodded his head, but then looked over at Hades apologetically.

"You really work to much uncle, which is not exactly healthy." he told the older god while contemplating if he should maybe suggest to help out somewhat, without the others figuring out, it would mean that he is at least both in the presence of the other while also helping lessen the stress on him. He had been not lying when he said that this was not good for the health, for both the god and his surroundings.

**_A Coast Guard boat picked us up, but they were too busy to keep us for long, or to wonder how three kids in street clothes had gotten out into the middle of the bay. There was a disaster to mop up. Their radios were jammed with distress calls._**

Hades groaned while the others flinched, they agreed with Apollo about the other being too much under stress and with their moods tending to influence their surroundings.

**_They dropped us off at the Santa Monica Pier with towels around our shoulders and water bottles that said I'M A JUNIOR COAST GUARD! and sped off to save more people._**

**_Our clothes were sopping wet, even mine. When the Coast Guard boat had appeared, I'd silently prayed they wouldn't pick me out of the water and find me perfectly dry, which might've raised some eyebrows. _**

Everyone nodded that it would have been more then strange.

**_So I'd willed myself to get soaked._**

"Well, that would certainly explain why he is wet unlike by the other times." Jay said, he had been curious when it was read that Percy was wet, now he got it.

**_Sure enough, my usual waterproof magic had abandoned me. I was also barefoot, because I'd given my shoes to Grover. Better the Coast Guard wonder why one of us was barefoot than wonder why one of us had hooves._**

A few people nodded their heads while the others laughed about Percy's logic.

"That would have raelly been harder to explain then the no shoes thing." Katie said.

**_After reaching dry land, we stumbled down the beach, watching the city burn against a beautiful sunrise._**

"What a nice sentence." Silena said as she shook her head, sunrises were pretty, but really, combined with the picture of a burning city?

Apollo meanwhile tried not to grin; it always amused him how people called the sunrise beautiful, well sure one can understand his amusement because those people rarely see how this phenomenon looks behind the mist, meaning either Helios driving along the sky in a chariot or him when the other asks him to jump in. He is kind of the substitute Sun God.

**_I felt as if I'd just come back from the dead—_**

A good deal of people raised their eyebrows, wondering if Percy had forgotten about which realm the uncle he had just visited was residing or not.

**_which I had._**

"Good, for a few minutes I thought that he may have gotten amnesia or something." Connor whispered to his brother, he doubted one would so fast forget their visit to the Underworld.

**_My back pack was heavy with Zeus's master bolt._**

Zeus felt pleased that his Master Bolt was still there, but he would feel better if he would already have it in the book.

**_My heart was even heavier from seeing my mother._**

Many bowed their heads at hearing this.

"I know that this had been a test issued by the Fates, but this was also kind of cruel." Gwen said while En leaned back against her uncle's chest, her eyes closed.

"Fate is a force which is always cruel, only the extent of it changes in strength so that sometimes one does not even notice it when on other times it almost crushes a person." Enysswe said in a light tone, she knew that people often seemed to confuse fate and destiny even thought they are not the same. Your destiny is yours to have, you may shape and bend it at your will through your decisions and actions, but fate is something unyielding, you can't change it no matter how much you struggle. She knew that one of the parts from the slowly surfacing Third Great Prophecy had fated her birth, but she did not know if those lines would declare her fate or her destiny.

**_"I don't believe it," Annabeth said. "We went all that way—"_**

"At least you found out a part of the truth." Lee pointed out, this was better then nothing, but he was worried about Percy who according to the title will be fighting against Lord Ares.

**_"It was a trick," I said. "A strategy worthy of Athena."_**

"I need to agree about that." Athena said with a slightly disgusted look on her face when she noticed Ares scowling at her so she leaned closer to him. "There is a chance that it was grandfather who suggested and forced you to follow that plan and I don't wish to have something in common with him." she whispered to him at which the god relaxed, but his face also took up a disgusted look.

"Ugh…I also dread that is was his idea." he whispered back, he was not pleased to be used as a chess piece, their grandfather can make himself ready that he _will _demand bloody retribution for this insult.

**_"Hey," she warned._**

Annabeth bowed her head when she noticed both her mother and Ares look at her with raised eyebrows so she guessed that this was not meant as an insult no matter how her mother's expression looked a few seconds ago, she guessed that it had more to do with whom could have been making the plan as an at that time more likely option then the fact what Percy implied.

**_"You get it, don't you?"_**

**_She dropped her eyes, her anger fading. "Yeah. I get it."_**

**_"Well, I don't!" Grover complained._**

A few people snickered at Grover's comment.

**_"Would somebody—"_**

"Sorry Goat Boy, but I fear that you will need to figure that one out yourself." Apollo said with a small laugh before his expression become sombre again due to the next lines.

**_"Percy ..." Annabeth said. "I'm sorry about your mother. I'm so sorry..."_**

More people bowed their heads, but forced themselves to remember that she was fine and having a good life with her family and a job she loves to do, so there was no ground for them to feel this way.

**_I pretended not to hear her. If I talked about my mother, I was going to start crying like a little kid._**

"And as it had been mentioned, there is nothing bad about crying, it shows that you are human or better put, have feelings." Mitchell said.

"That is true; I doubt that father would ever shed even a single tear for someone else." Poseidon said with a nod while on his guest throne Hades also nodded his head, it seemed that most people saw crying as a weakness even thought it was just like laughing one of the ways to unburden your soul.

**_"The prophecy was right," I said. "You shall go west and face the god who has turned.'_**

Everyone nodded while looking uneasily over at Ares who did his best to not show that in truth he was frightened about the knowledge that his grandfather will somehow manage to invade his mind and make him do his bidding…somehow he was feeling violated by the thought. Sensing his discomfort both Athena and Aphrodite each placed their hand on the War God's arms.

**_But it wasn't Hades. Hades didn't want war among the Big Three._**

Said god nodded his head while holding his wife's hand, his two brothers meanwhile did not dare looking at him.

**_Someone else pulled off the theft._**

Those who have already known or figured it out who had truly taken the two items did their best to avoid looking at Hermes.

**_Someone stole Zeus's master bolt, and Hades's helm, and framed me because I'm Poseidon's kid._**

Poseidon bowed his head, he had been the one who had dragged Percy into this mess, it may have been unintentional, but now reading this book, somehow the knowledge about the oath he and Zeus issued and broke, the appearance of the Fates in the second chapter and the test they had issued. All of this forced him to see that no matter if unintentional or not, he was the one to be blamed. For each wound Percy receives, for each tear and blood drop spilled, for each danger his son had faced and will face was he to blame. For he had been the one going back on his oath and birthing this young hero whom will be burdened to bear a hard fate on his shoulders.

**_Poseidon will get blamed by both sides._**

Athena nodded her head, now that they knew the truth some things were a bit clearer, but for them in the book, if from three powerful items two go missing and if added to that the breaking of an oath on the Styx gets revealed is it easy to draw a false conclusion if one does not know what they know now.

**_By sundown today, there will be a three-way war._**

Everyone shuddered, no matter that it got stopped; it was hard not to imagine the chaos, despair, destruction and death that would have been caused.

"Ugh…we can be happy that you three will manage to stop that from happening." Beckendorf told Annabeth who nodded her head.

"Me to." she said, but knew that there would be more wars to come and no matter that she knew that they will win in the end, what they had read so far showed her that she was still not good enough. She dreaded now that she may fail in one of her strategies and someone she cares about would get hurt or worse, but she forced those fears away from her mind and tried listening to the book.

**_And I'll have caused it."_**

Several people scowled at this while Ares leaned closer to Athena, his face tinged with green.

"I fear that this was grandfather." he whispered to her while she tightened her hold on his hand, at this moment she also needed a bit of support from the touch of her counterpart for she meant it as she told him that she dreaded to have anything to her which was similar to the one all Olympians despise.

**_Grover shook his head, mystified. "But who would be that sneaky?_**

"A cruel bastard." come it from the gods and legacies.

**_Who would want war that bad?"_**

"A cruel, heartless bastard who wants to use the diversion to raise." the gods corrected themselves while the legacies held back bitter smiles, seems that the term _'like mother, like son__'_ could be nicely applied, for Queen Dirt Face had also wanted to use the Second World War as a diversion to raise, but she did not think that the daughter of her eldest grandson would sacrifice her own life in order to thwart her plans.

**_I stopped in my tracks, looking down the beach. "Gee, let me think."_**

"Let me guess, I'm there." Ares said while looking over at Apollo who nodded his head carefully when Ares let out a growl. "That ass, even if a fight should ensue the scenery is not in my favour due to the ocean and who knows what else he will throw in if he wants to have the boy on his side." the god spat in anger while the others could not even exactly blame him, being mind controlled was not something one takes lightly, mostly not if it did not happen out of content and also Ares was right, they could not know what Kronos would do further with him.

**_There he was, waiting for us, in his black leather duster and his sunglasses, an aluminium baseball bat propped on his shoulder. His motorcycle rumbled beside him, its head light turning the sand red._**

The demigods shuddered at the last line.

"Ugh…I really don't like the implication of that last line at all." Katie said shivering.

"I agree, it is almost as if it would imply death." Lee said nervously while the legacies exchanged fleeting, uncomfortable glances with each other because it had been the beach on which the councillor had lost his life by the invasion.

**_Hey, kid," Ares said, seeming genuinely pleased to see me. "You were supposed to die."_**

"Luckily he didn't." Poseidon said in a relieved tone while looking thankfully at his older brother, he will be on it to help the other out in his work from now on and hopefully manage to mend at least a bit of the rift which had been standing between them since they had been freed from their prison.

"I wonder if the fact that you are happy to see him is because a part of you tried to fight of the mind control and was glad that the plan had not gone as Kronos had planned it." Aphrodite whispered to Ares from his other side.

"I don't fully know how my future self truly felt at that time regards him, but you can bet on it that I would not just sit there and let myself be controlled by that asshole without a fight." he whispered back to her.

**_"You tricked me," I said._**

"Technically is he also a victim like you as surreal it sounds to say this." Hermes said while he glanced over at Ares, he meant his words then since he knew his half-brother had he never thought to one day see him in the role of a victim, it did not sound right.

Meanwhile the others also nodded while Clarisse glared at her lap, she would make hell to Kronos's plans for what he dared to do with her father.

**_"You _****_stole the helm and the master bolt."_**

"We are not able to take the symbol of another as Chiron had explained it, but given what he went through since some chapters we can let that pass." Apollo said before continuing with reading the book.

**_Ares grinned. "Well, now, I didn't steal them personally. _**

"True and you didn't steal them at all." Hephaestus said as he tired to control his fire from breaking out, as they had said before he and Ares tended to clash often with both harsh words and on occasions also deeds, but they were brothers who shared the same parents and as hard it is to see had a type of love for each other so he was furious with their grandfather.

**_Gods taking each other's symbols of power—that's a big no-no. But you're not the only hero in the world who can run errands."_**

The demigods and legacies nodded their heads though did not exactly like to be implied to be errand boys and girls now.

**_"Who did you use? Clarisse? She was there at the winter solstice."_**

"I didn't steal it!" Clarisse shouted. "I would never do that." she added in while Lee gave her a small smile.

"Even without the book here we would not believe that it was you, it is just not in your character." he told her which earned him a small grin from the girl while the others nodded, well Michael kicked himself for not coming up with anything to say sooner.

"Thanks Fletcher." she said while the legacies gave them a small smile.

"Try seeing this as his payback comment for the Hellhound think." Frank told the other who rolled her eyes at this.

"At least does he not give this comment in front of the whole camp or I would need to make a schedule whom to beat up on which day of the week and at what time, it would be a bother getting done." she said while the others laughed, knowing that Clarisse was over the accusation now.

**_The idea seemed to amuse him._**

"My kids don't steal, but take if they want to." Ares said while Hermes grinned at him.

"That is my department, Ares is not the type who likes sneaking up on things, people on the other hand in a surprise attack are more his thing." he said while some of the others tried not to flinch.

**_"Doesn't matter. The point is, kid, you're impeding the war effort._**

"The first of many times." Ace whispered to Lance.

**_See, you've got to die in the Underworld. Then Old Seaweed_**

Poseidon rolled his eyes at the nickname, he would be happy if people would give up with the names.

**_will be mad at Hades for killing you. Corpse Breath_**

"Isnt this not how aunt Thalia tends to call uncle Nico? Or at least eerily similar." Nathan whispered to Misty as by the thrones Hades rolled his eyes and huffed.

"Well, seeing how he is her half-brother I would not be surprised." she whispered back to him.

**_will have Zeus's master bolt, so Zeus'll be mad at _****_him._**

Said god did his best to not look at his oldest brother.

**_And Hades is still looking for this …"_**

"At least will Percy not need to go looking for it." Hades mumbled under his breath.

**_From his pocket he took out a ski cap—the kind bank robbers wear—_**

"Now I wonder why it had taken up a form like that?" Katie asked in confusion while Malcolm was explaining what a bank robber was.

"Nice, but again, that is my department and not that of Ares." Hermes said after his nephew finished with his explanation.

"Great, in a way the Helm of Darkness was giving them a clue about the identity of the thief." Luke groaned softly so that the others don't hear.

**_and placed it between the handlebars of his bike. Immediately, the cap transformed into an elaborate bronze war helmet._**

"Cool, it can change forms?" Trickster asked while Hades took out the Helm and while holding back its power showed it to the demigods who looked on in awe as it become a wreath of silver and golden laurels, a golden crown, a wreath of bones and so on before he put it away.

"That is really great that it does not have a constant form, but can change its forms and size." Jay said in amazement which made Zeus gap at his son.

"It is also rather convient that it can do that regards the size." Reyna added in with the others nodding while Hades felt kind of pleased that the children liked this ability of his Symbol of Power.

**_"The Helm of Darkness," Grover gasped._**

**_"Exactly," Ares said. "Now where was I?_**

"Ah, is old age creeping up on you Ares?" Dionysus asked his brother with a smirk on his lips while the god looked at him for a few seconds and then started grinning as he realized why the other had commented this.

"Nah, only a relative who does not know what it means to suck up that he was beaten." he replied back grinning.

**_Oh yeah, Hades will be mad at both Zeus and Poseidon, because he doesn't know who took this. Pretty soon, we got a nice little three-way slugfest going."_**

There were several threats against Kronos going on in and outside of the palace.

* * *

"And this is certainly proof that something is not right with Ares." Enyo snapped in anger, with her being the goddess of destructive war was she mostly in battle times on the same side as her blood brother and knew him well and this was _not_ like the Ares she knew.

"True, father loves war, but this would be a slaughter which could easily end with no one staying who can fight, he would never wish for such destruction." Adrestia bit out while holding Harmonia close to herself.

**_"But they're your family!" Annabeth protested._**

"He knows that, he does not mind bickering and fights, but he would never want a full blown war which could end up destroying all creation." Hecate said sighing; she was glad that this war will not happen for she feared that if a three-way war would truly break out then it may also force the other pantheons to set their foot down to stop it spreading to their jurisdiction and that would end terribly.

**_Ares shrugged. "Best kind of war. Always the bloodiest. Nothing like watching your relatives fight, I always say."_**

The deities nodded that this was like Ares, but they knew that he must be controlled for he had mentioned this sentence a few times, but he always choose the word _battle_ or _fight_ anstead of war, he knew the limits even if it was hard to believe with him.

**_"You gave me the backpack in Denver," I said. "The master bolt was in there the whole time."_**

"This might not be the full truth, they would have noticed it right away if it would have been the case." Alke pointed out while everyone hoped that it would finally be explained how the Bolt got into the backpack.

**_"Yes and no," Ares said._**

"Eh?" come the several confused sounds from all those gathered.

**_"It's probably too complicated for your little mortal brain to follow,_**

"And this taunting is again an indication that someone had messed with his mind." Hecate said while Enyo and most of the others nodded their heads, Ares loved taunting people, but this sounded noting like the start of one of those he uses.

"That Titan is truly a bad looser, using one of his own grandchildren…" Aidos growled, one of her spectres of power was respect after all beside modesty and reverence, but Kronos was throwing all of this under the rug.

"Aidos, it is of no use, you know how your uncle is a deceitful monster." Nemesis told her friend who nodded her head bitterly; the older goddess knew that she was partially still annoyed for having her father and his punishment mentioned by yesterday's reading, but for those whom were birthed from one of the twelve Titans, but them having been born as gods or goddesses or one of their offspring's and not have been banned somewhere after the Titanomachia would this go on like this, mostly that it seems that a new war against their family is approaching.

**_but the backpack is the master bolt's sheath, just morphed a bit. The bolt is connected to it, sort of like that sword you got, kid. It always returns to your pocket, right?"_**

"So, this is how it was done." Arete said while clapping her hands together.

"No wonder then that the backpack started to feel different after only they nearly got dragged into Tartaros, no matter how Athena may complain, but this was a well made strategy." Kratos spoke up as several of the others also nodded their heads, this way the bolt would have been unintentionally delivered to Kronos without even the one delivering it noticing that they had it on them.

**_I wasn't sure how Ares knew about that, but I guess a god of war had to make it his business to know about weapons._**

"It is essentional for us to be in clear about them." called all deities who had some aspect of war in their nature no matter how small or insignificant it may be.

**_"Anyway," Ares continued, "I tinkered with the magic a bit,_**

"Can he do that?" asked a confused looking Horme while almost everyone sitting outside turned curiously to Hecate who looked up when feeling the gazes on her.

"Technically he would be able, of course not a large change on the magical barriers in and around the Bolt, but due to it being mostly a weapon and only secondly a magical item his main spectre as a War God would make it possible." she explained to the others.

"Meaning if he would not have that side to him then he would have not been able to manipulate on it?" Nomos asked the goddess who gave a shrug.

"In that case we would have got a repeat how his father looked when Ares was a baby and got his hands on the Bolt and I doubt that anyone would have missed that explosion." she told them as the others nodded their heads in understanding, well except those who were laughing as they remembered how Zeus looked after being blasted through a wall by his own Symbol of Power.

**_so the bolt would only return to the sheath once you reached the Underworld. You get close to Hades... Bingo, you got mail. _**

Everyone shook their heads at the last sentence, this sounded more like a comment from Hermes when he played the question game when bringing you a message.

**_If you died along the way—no loss. I still had the weapon."_**

**_"But why not just keep the master bolt for yourself?" I said. "Why send it to Hades?"_**

At this several deities narrowed their eyes, this was the last confirmation that it had been not Ares who had done all of this due to his free will. Even if they would have not heard the first part of the book, the fact that Ares would freely give out a dangerous weapon from his hands, a weapon he certainly was interested as a child would tip everyone of that something was definitely not right.

Though this was before they heard Apollo read the next unsettling part which made the siblings and children of the god tense and sent their blood boiling.

**_Ares got a twitch in his jaw. For a moment, it was almost as if he were listening to another voice, deep inside his head. "Why didn't I ... yeah ... with that kind of fire power ..."_**

It was as if someone would have set the air on fire as everyone glared at the palace, this sentence just told them that Kronos had been listening in and given instructions to his grandson and it was Percy 's question which caused that hidden connection to falter and for the other to continue struggling.

* * *

The throne room was deadly silent while everyone did their best to not glare at the book, during the past sentences had Ace moved closer to his mother to give her comfort seeing the extremely undecided look on his father's face as well on that of En's uncle while Hera also stood up and joined the two other goddesses on her son's side who grit his teeth in both annoyance and anger. He would give a first row demonstration to his grandfather about his weapon collection the next time he sees him.

After a good ten minutes Apollo continued reading, but everyone could feel the suffocating tension in the air.

**_He held the trance for one second ... two seconds..._**

"Good, you are fighting him." Hephaestus said in a tight tone as he tried to control the flames which wanted to erupt all over his body, he was also doing this due to the fact that he also felt some of the vulcans stir in the mortal world and after hearing all the work his uncle needed to endure he did not wish to make more work for him unnecessarily.

**_I exchanged nervous looks with Annabeth._**

The legacies, beside Ace and Enysswe who were farther apart from them, exchanged knowing glances, so this was when he started figuring out that something had been not right with Ares.

**_Ares's face cleared. "I didn't want the trouble. Better to have you caught redhanded, holding the thing."_**

Ares wanted to curse, he had been pushed back for he could not hear himself say such bullshit, it would have been easy if he would have been found with the Bolt to say that he had managed to find it and designated the thief.

**_"You're lying," I said. "Sending the bolt to the Underworld wasn't your idea, was it?"_**

"He has figured it out that something is not right, but I'm not sure if this is at the moment a good thing or not." Jay said feeling worried and nervous, Kronos had still control over the war god and even thought Percy had the Bolt he could not use it without his father allowing it while Ares can. The situation did not look good, but at least the presence of the ocean would make sure that there wouldn't be causalities, now he only feared the injuries.

**_"Of course it was!" Smoke drifted up from his sun glasses, as if they were about to catch fire._**

"Good, you are still trying to sever the connection." Ares heard his mother mumble as her hand tightened on his shoulder, he felt glad for her support, in the past had he sometimes the feeling as if she would feel uncomfortable around him. Maybe when they talk he will finally know what had been wrong, but first he wanted this disgusting bond between his future self and grandfather gone.

**_"You didn't order the theft," I guessed. "_**

Athena nodded her head approvingly, he had figured it out now if only Ares could free himself fully from Kronos then this madness would end.

**_Someone else sent a hero to steal the two items. Then, when Zeus sent you to hunt him down, you caught the thief._**

Everyone narrowed their eyes, so this had been the time it had happened.

**_But you didn't turn him over to Zeus. Something convinced you to let him go._**

"_More like someone._" many thought angrily, the thief if they knew it or not had been not alone a fiver of Kronos's essence had been on them as an aid if they should be caught. This thought was unsettling because it could have happened to any of them who had been sent out on that day to find the thief.

**_You kept the items until another hero could come along and complete the delivery. That thing in the pit is ordering you around."_**

Cue growls and threats in different languages which made Sue cring, she had once wanted to teach the twins to be multilingual, seems she may get her wish…multilingual in the case of swear words.

**_"I am the god of war! I take orders from no one!_**

Zeus wanted to speak up that his son certainly takes orders from him, but shut up when Poseidon glared at him.

"And this would explain how he directed your actions." Apollo spoke up in a dark tone as he read the last part of the sentence.

**_I don't have dreams!"_**

"When were dreams mentioned?" asked a confused Frank.

"This may have been Ares attempting to give a tip, but it not coming out how he fully wanted to." Athena said before turning to the demigods to explain. "You see, divine beings have no dreams when they sleep, or hallucinations for that matter, if we wish to experience one of those there are usually two ways, either we as a divinity with dreams in their attribute or the more unsettling occurrence if a divinity is close to fading." she told the demigods who nodded their head reluctantly while progressing the new information they had got.

"But how come then that Lord Ares is talking about dreams?" Annabeth asked her mother who looked at her uncomfortably before turning to Hades because she was not sure how to answer this.

"This has much to do with the generations, you know how Lord Chaos was the start of everything his children and grandchildren are called primordial's or in other words first generation gods, this means that their powers are more stronger then those of later generations seeing how some of them inherited those powers over to the divinities which were born later or they altered a bit through the inheritance. Like how Artemis inherited the aspect of '_childbirth_' from her mother Leto the Titanes of Motherhood while Athena's own mother Metis had inherited a number of her own aspects to her, mostly wisdom, planning and craftiness." Hades explained while the two goddesses nodded their heads though Athena also bit on her under lip, she did not know that these parts of her nature had come from her mother. "I used the example with titans in the same sense with the primordial's due to the fact that they are close to that category regards in an aspect of their power namely they can induct dream messages and manipulations without the aide of a god with dream aspect, though as you know due to Hypnos" here both Zeus and Hercules scowled neither of them having forgotten how the god had aided Hera in her revenges towards the demigod " the God of Sleep being En's grandfather and three of the Oneiros or Dream Gods being his younger siblings while the fourth his son, this power is understandable. If one of us third and fourth generation gods, the titans may not be gods, but they are also part of the second generation deities, wish to do one of those they will need to ask either Hypnos or one of the four Oneiro for help except if it is not a specific message seeing how general things are automatically carried over due to your demigod dreams being designed like that by your own bodies because of you being a mix of mortal and divinity." Hades finished explaining while the demigods wished to groan at the knowledge that their demigod dreams were due to them being demigods and not because a dream god decided to give them a creative ability.

**_I hesitated. "Who said anything about dreams?"_**

No one commented seeing that they had just been cleared up about all of this.

**_Ares looked agitated, but he tried to cover it with a smirk._**

"Good, now try solving this with as little bloodshed as possible." Poseidon pleaded.

**_"Let's get back to the problem at hand, kid. You're alive. I can't have you taking that bolt to Olympus. You just might get those hardheaded idiots to listen to you._**

"It takes one to know another father and as a reminder the people you are making your grandson talking about are your children and grandchildren and you are refusing to accept defeat, so what does that imply to you?" Hera asked while most of the others smirked.

"Meaning the pot is calling the cattle." Trickster whispered to Felix.

**_So I've got to kill you. Nothing personal."_**

"Well…getting killed is kind of personal for the one who is being killed…"

"Apollo, read the book it is already enough for our nerves."

"Sorry."

**_He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar, He snapped his fingers. The sand exploded at his feet and out charged a wild boar,_**

The legacies did their best to not snicker, their poor dad /uncle was the option that he may have developed a small allergy regards boars and pigs in general.

"Good, they are beside the ocean and you sent one of your sacred animals at him, good I can perfectly live with that." Poseidon said in a relieved tone.

"Did father forget the title of this chapter and that it kind of implied a different type of battle?" Triton whispered to his mother who shook her head.

"Let your father enjoy his little denial till he can." she told her son while glancing at her still smiling husband.

**_even larger and uglier than the one whose head hung above the door of cabin five at Camp Half-Blood._**

"Of course it would be larger then that one." Annabeth said while putting her worry to the side to do a bit of a calculation how a larger head would work out on the structure of the cabin which were not nice results, after being done she went back to worrying.

**_The beast pawed the sand, glaring at me with beady eyes as it lowered its razor-sharp tusks and waited for the command to kill._**

Suddenly Apollo looked up apologetically at Poseidon who let out a groan while both Amphitrite and Triton sighed, the denial did not last long.

**_I stepped into the surf. "Fight me yourself, Ares."_**

"Chiron, you told him about what heroes can do in boldness…" Poseidon whined while looking over at his half-brother who gave him as sheepish smile while holding up his hands.

"I did not know that he would face such a situation and challenge a god." Chiron told the Sea God while he was busy groaning on the inside.

**_He laughed, but I heard a little edge to his laughter ... an uneasiness. _**

Athena wondered from whom that feeling may have come from, but she was still to busy to try figuring out how the situation could be resolved.

**_"You've only got one talent, kid, running away. You ran from the Chimera. You ran from the Under world. You don't have what it takes."_**

"Why can I see Percy commenting something which will result in him fighting a god one-on-one?" Malcolm asked groaning while Apollo shook his head before continuing to read.

**_"Scared?"_**

Cue groans.

**_"In your adolescent dreams." But his sunglasses were starting to melt from the heat of his eyes. _**

The demigods and mortal family shuddered as they imagined this.

"In a way possessed or not, I doubt that it is healthy to provocate him." Dakota whispered to the others.

"And you did not hear his worst provocations regards divinities yet." Ace told them from beside his mother, he decided to stay here till the chapter is done.

"So reassuring to know." Katie said while shaking her head, at least was Travis only pulling pranks and not making gods want to attack him, she was really starting to get those bets.

**_"No direct involvement._**

This wanting to stick to the laws kind of bothered some of the others.

**_Sorry, kid. You're not at my level."_**

And this relaxed them, this sounded a bit more like the Ares they knew.

**_Annabeth said, "Percy, run!"_**

"Please do." Orion said, it was not fun to be trampled over by a boar, he had experience with that and learned that they could be pretty fast when charging at you.

**_The giant boar charged._**

**_But I was done running from monsters. Or Hades, or Ares, or anybody._**

"Great, I don't know if this anger of his is a good or bad thing." Poseidon said while covering his eyes with his hand.

"I think it kind of depends on the situation and how you look at it." Luke told his grandfather while inwardly cringing, his mother would hear about the betrayal of the original Luke in the chapter after this.

"Then allow me till he is safe from trouble from angry boars and relatives on the beach to see it as a bad thing." Poseidon replied back while gesturing with his free hand to Apollo so that he should continue.

**_As the boar rushed me, I uncapped my pen and side stepped._**

"Seems as if that what his mom told him during the fight with the Minotaur can also be applied to boars." Travis said grinning.

**_Riptide appeared in my hands. I slashed upward. The boar's severed right tusk fell at my feet, while the disoriented animal charged into the sea._**

There were a few cheers at this from the demigods while the others smirked, this part of the fight would be over soon.

**_I shouted, "Wave!"_**

**_Immediately, a wave surged up from nowhere and engulfed the boar, wrapping around it like a blanket. The beast squealed once in terror. Then it was gone, swallowed by the sea._**

"AWESOME," Was shouted from many in the throne room before it felt silent again due to people realizing that now Percy will be facing Ares who as they got proven was still directed in most of his actions by Kronos, not a good combo.

**_I turned back to Ares. "Are you going to fight me now?" I asked. "Or are you going to hide behind another pet?"_**

**_Ares's face was purple with rage. "_**

Now this time even some of the gods flinched, this did not look good and Ares was even when he was fully himself not famous due to him managing to keep his temper in check.

**_Watch it, kid. I could turn you into—"_**

"That kid is imaginative, but I would still ask D to have a look at him when you get back to camp, just to be on the save side." Apollo said before continuing with his reading.

**_"A cockroach," I said. "Or a tapeworm. Yeah, I'm sure. That'd save you from getting your godly hide whipped, wouldn't it?"_**

"Hades, the wine." was the only thing coming from Poseidon as his older brother complied.

**_Flames danced along the top of his glasses. "Oh, man, you are really asking to be smashed into a grease spot."_**

"I really hope that he does not." Poseidon said while filling the drinking horn with wine.

**_"If I lose, turn me into anything you want. Take the bolt. If I win, the helm and the bolt are mine and _****_you _****_have to go away."_**

"It is nice that he is taking that promise so serious to get back my Helm and Zeus's toy, but he is not taking into account into what kind of danger he is putting himself into." Hades whispered to Persephone who nodded her head in agreement.

**_Ares sneered._**

**_He swung the baseball bat off his shoulder. "How would you like to get smashed: classic or modern?"_**

"Classic would be better in that situation due to the environment they are in, in a city I would say modern, but not on a beach." Clarisse spoke up finally, she was feeling slightly better now that she could think about something other then her father being played as a marionette.

**_I showed him my sword._**

Ares nodded his head, if it comes to fight types were most of the time no words needed to convey a decision.

**_"That's cool, dead boy," he said._**

"And just like by aunt Clarisse he got the wrong kid of the wrong uncle." Lance whispered while Henry glared at him.

**_"Classic it is." The baseball bat changed into a huge, two-handed sword. The hilt was a large silver skull with a ruby in its mouth._**

No matter the situation Ares allowed himself a small grin and pulled out said sword, after getting his hand released for a short time by Aphrodite, for a few seconds for the curious looking demigods to see before putting it away again.

**_"Percy," Annabeth said. "Don't do this. He's a god."_**

"He isn't going to listen." come the many replies followed by heavy sighs, some groans and a whimper from Theseus.

**_"He's a coward," I told her._**

Ares though about commenting but said nothing.

**_She swallowed. "Wear this, at least. For luck."_**

**_She took off her necklace, with her five years' worth of camp beads and the ring from her father, and tied it around my neck._**

Aphrodite beamed at a blushing Annabeth.

"That's adorable." she said with her children agreeing with their mother and this time even some of the other females also nodded their heads.

**_"Reconciliation," she said. "Athena and Poseidon together."_**

Athena and Poseidon eyed each other but said nothing, they would wait and see if something should change in their rivalry in these books or if not then they will try to act a bit more civil towards the other for the shake of their children, but Athena was also wishing to see that proof why she may accept Percy near her daughter. She wished to see things clearly before falling judgement.

**_My face felt a little warm, but I managed a smile. "Thanks." _**

Annabeth blushed even more when the Love Goddess and her two daughters started cooing.

**_"And take this," Grover said. He handed me a flattened tin can that he'd probably been saving in his pocket for a thousand miles. "The satyrs stand behind you."_**

Pan smiled at this as did most of the others, but only the legacies knew that this sentence will in a few years time hold a much deeper meaning to it then either of them would have guessed at that time.

**_"Grover ... I don't know what to say."_**

"Neither do we," the Stolls laughed before they were hit over the head by Katie.

"Be quiet, this is adorable." she told them.

**_He patted me on the shoulder. I stuffed the tin can in my back pocket._**

**_"You all done saying good-bye?" Ares came toward me, his black leather duster trailing behind him, his sword glinting like fire in the sunrise. "I've been fighting for eternity, kid. My strength is unlimited and I cannot die. What have you got?"_**

Before anyone could comment Apollo snorted, that sentence could be applied against almost all of the gods, but he would not say that out loud as fun as some of the expressions would look.

"Sorry, only read Percy's inner answer." he said before reading it out loud.

**_A smaller ego, I thought, but I said nothing._**

Ares stared spluttering at the book as some of the others started snickering, well beside Poseidon who took a new gulp from the wine.

"Don't worry dear, you can always blame your father for the ego part." Hera whispered to Ares, but she was heard by both Aphrodite and Athena who bit on their tongues to not laugh at the comment.

**_I kept my feet in the surf, backing into the water up to my ankles. I thought back to what Annabeth had said at the Denver diner, so long ago: _****_Ares has strength. That's all he has. Even strength has to how to wisdom sometimes._**

"So he does listen to me and not only when he is bored." Annabeth whispered to herself before looking up and giving a what she hoped to be an apologetic smile to Lord Ares.

**_He cleaved downward at my head, but I wasn't there._**

"Damned bastard of a good for nothing grandfather." Ares grumbled under his breath, he knew that the ocean would make trouble, not that he wanted Kronos to win, but he was the God of War and fighting in such an undesirable place due to the water not only helping out Percy and putting him on a disadvantage, but his uncle could easily send out some water monster to stop him.

**_My body thought for me. The water seemed to push me into the air and I catapulted over him, slashing as I came down. But Ares was just as quick._**

Ares allowed himself again a small smirk of course he had said that he fought since millennia, the others mostly the demigods meanwhile listened with anticipation to the battle.

**_He twisted, and the strike that should've caught him directly in the spine was deflected off the end of his sword hilt._**

Clarisse grinned, that was an excellent move which she would definitely note how to do.

"Not bad cousin." Apollo spoke up again before continuing.

**_He grinned. "Not bad, not bad."_**

The others nodded their heads, that praise no matter from whom it come had a meaning to it.

**_He slashed again and I was forced to jump onto dry land._**

"Not good," Will said worriedly while the others nodded, Percy had just been forced to leave the place which gave him protection and an advantage to avoid being sliced into ribbons.

**_I tried to sidestep, to get back to the water, but Ares seemed to know what I wanted._**

There were several groans at this while Hades wondered when Poseidon would ask for the third bottle to be opened.

**_He outmaneuvered me, pressing so hard I had to put all my concentration on not getting sliced into pieces._**

The tension was increasing again as everyone waited for what will happen next.

**_I kept backing away from the surf. I couldn't find any openings to attack. His sword had a reach several feet longer than Anaklusmos._**

Annabeth and everyone else who preferred to fight with a knife nodded their heads, this was a disadvantage for their weapon or any type of sharp blade if there was a difference in length between your blade and the one which your opponent uses. Simply put, if you wanted to get a hit in you need to take a risk.

**_Get in close, _****_Luke had told me once, back in our sword class. _****_When you've got the shorter blade, get in close._**

"At least he taught him something," Luke grumbled under his breath, he forgot that this was also in there. Sally only patted her brother on the back, knowing how hard this was on him while the others noted that some of the others looked kind of conflicted indicating that they had figured out who the thief had been.

**_I stepped inside with a thrust, but Ares was waiting for that._**

"Ouch…I fear he forgot that Ares is also good in weaponless combat and knows all fighting tricks." Apollo said flinching.

"Seeing that most of them were made by the two of us." Athena spoke up while the Romans flinched again at the new information, they really would have liked to know what had gotten into their ancestors for their actions in the past.

**_He knocked my blade out of my hands and kicked me in the chest._**

Everyone flinched at this while Theseus started in his sleep to work on a new set of holes in their couch.

**_I went airborne—twenty, maybe thirty feet._**

Cue more flinching.

**_I would've broken my back if I hadn't crashed into the soft sand of a dune._**

Several people let out sighs of relief at this, it was better then the other option that could have happened.

**_"Percy!" Annabeth yelled. "Cops!"_**

"What?" most asked, a part because they had no clue what those were while the others wondered who had called them.

"Is that a type of new battle strategy?" asked a confused Jason.

"No, cops also called police are people who are holding up the law, like if someone does a crime and the police catches them they are brought in front of a mortal court where a judge decides about their faith. It is not a bad system, but sadly is it not foul proof and sometimes get cases cold due to the investigators not having clues, things having been done wrong or someone buying themselves out of the trouble. Some also have a political protection till a certain time and also there is for some crimes a time frist after which they can't be sentenced." Sally tried to explain as easily as she could.

"It should never be too late to punish someone for a crime they had done." Artemis pointed out.

"This is for what the Judgement Pavilion in the Underworld is for." Hades said while his niece smiled at him.

"Ok, that is great to know, but would this be not dangerous for those mortals?" asked Perseus at which the others groaned, things really could not go easy for Percy.

**_I was seeing double. My chest felt like it had just been hit with a battering ram,_**

"Nah, that was only your cousin partially possessed by your grandfather." Hermes said in a chatting tone.

"Hermes!"

**_but I managed to get to my feet._**

Everyone nodded, if he can still stand then it is fine.

**_I couldn't look away from Ares for fear he'd slice me in half,_**

"Wise choice, in a battle you never should avert your eyes from your opponent." Ares said with a nod of his head, that was one of the main rules of a battle.

**_but out of the corner of my eye I saw red lights flashing on the shoreline boulevard. Car doors were slamming._**

**_"There, officer!" somebody yelled. "See?"_**

**_A gruff cop voice: "Looks like that kid on TV ... what the heck ..."_**

Cue more groans and incredulous looks at the book, they doubted that things could get even more complicated after this.

**_"That guy's armed," another cop said. "Call for backup."_**

**_I rolled to one side as Ares's blade slashed the sand._**

Sighs of relief.

* * *

**_I ran for my sword, scooped it up, and launched a swipe at Ares's face, only to find my blade deflected again._**

"At least he has a weapon again." Tyche said in relief, she really wanted this fight to end, preferably with the young demigod not getting hurt more badly then he already is.

**_Ares seemed to know exactly what I was going to do the moment before I did it._**

"He is a war type god, of course this makes him know all battle moves and the usage of anything that counts or could be used as a weapon." Enyo said with a sigh, wondering how Percy would get out of this one then no matter how good that child already is, she could not see him beating a god.

**_I stepped back toward the surf, forcing him to follow._**

**_"Admit it, kid," Ares said. "You got no hope. I'm just toying with you."_**

**_My senses were working overtime. I now understood what Annabeth had said about ADHD keeping you alive in battle. I was wide awake, noticing every little detail._**

There were several nods at this mostly inside the palace from the demigods and legacies, it were such times when they really appreciated the whole not being able to keep still thing.

**_I could see where Ares was tensing. I could tell which way he would strike._**

"Good, keep an eye on his movements to determine his next move." Enyo said approvingly, even the smallest twitch of a muscle could carry much information in it if you are in a fight with someone.

**_At the same time, I was aware of Annabeth and Grover, thirty feet to my left. I saw a second cop car pulling up, siren wailing. Spectators, people who had been wandering the streets because of the earthquake, were starting to gather._**

There were several groans at this.

"Just what are those idiotic mortals thinking they are doing?" asked Dike in frustration.

"One would think that they would have a better sense for self-preservation then to go ogling on a dangerous fight." Eris said while not far from her both Soter and Soteria were mumbling about people not listening to them and getting into trouble.

**_Among the crowd, I thought I saw a few who were walking with the strange, trotting gait of disguised satyrs. _**

"Seeing how the air there must be filled with the smell of demigods and a god they probably went to investigate what is happening." one of the present satyrs said, he was sure that he would just do that in such a situation.

**_There were shimmering forms of spirits, too, as if the dead had risen from Hades to watch the battle._**

"I would say that father may have sent them as witnesses for what Percy does after he had left his realm." Macaria said while behind her was Zagreus still stuck on the fact that his sister may fancy someone while said sister was making plans how to get to her mother before her brother gets to their father.

**_I heard the flap of leathery wings circling somewhere above._**

"And those must have been called due to the battle." Nemesis pointed out, the Erinyes were close to them with both Alecto and her elder brother Thanatos being both the lieutenants of Hades as well as the fact that they had been born just like their youngest sister Lyssa, from the blood of Ouranos the sky so their mother kind of treated them like her adoptive daughters.

**_More sirens._**

**_I stepped farther into the water, but Ares was fast. The tip of his blade ripped my sleeve and grazed my forearm._**

Cue flinches, mostly from those responsible for health.

**_A police voice on a megaphone said, "Drop the guns.' Set them on the ground. Now!"_**

"Guns?" come several confused voices, they really had no clue what those were.

"They may be a type of weapon they had invented in the future." Hecate spoke up seeing how neither of them had a clue what those things could be, beside getting the gist that it is probably some sort of a weapon.

**_Guns?_**

**_I looked at Ares's weapon, and it seemed to be flickering; sometimes it looked like a shotgun, sometimes a two-handed sword. I didn't know what the humans were seeing in my hands, but I was pretty sure it wouldn't make them like me._**

"At the given moment, please concentrate more on surviving then what people think about you." Tyche pleaded.

"This is exactly why I dislike violence." Iris said while looking nervously at the palace.

**_Ares turned to glare at our spectators, which gave me a moment to breathe._**

Enyo frowned, her brother was ignoring one of the rules regards battle which gave her an indication that their grandfather might have sensed those sent by uncle Hades and was not pleased about the fact that he could be found out.

**_There were five police cars now, and a line of officers crouching behind them, pistols trained on us._**

**_"This is a private matter!" Ares bellowed. "Be gone.'"_**

**_He swept his hand, and a wall of red flame rolled across the patrol cars._**

Several deities and spirits flinched, but sadly had those mortals brought this on themselves for not staying out of this.

**_The police barely had time to dive for cover before their vehicles exploded. The crowd behind them scattered, screaming._**

"At least got no one killed." Iris said sighing in relief as did several others, this attack could have easily killed at least forty people in an instant.

**_Ares roared with laughter. "Now, little hero. Let's add you to the barbecue."_**

**_He slashed. I deflected his blade. I got close enough to strike, tried to fake him out with a feint, but my blow was knocked aside. The waves were hitting me in the back now. Ares was up to his thighs, wading in after me._**

Everyone held their breaths, wanting to know what will happen. Of course they knew that Percy could not win this battle with an actual defeat, but being in the water would ensure his safety much better then him fighting on land.

**_I felt the rhythm of the sea, the waves growing larger as the tide rolled in, and suddenly I had an idea. _****_Little waves, _****_I thought. And the water behind me seemed to recede. I was holding back the tide by force of will, but tension was building, like carbonation behind a cork._**

The water deities and spirits who had figured out the plan started grinning, this was not a bad idea and could even work.

**_Ares came toward, grinning confidently. I lowered my blade, as if I were too exhausted to go on. _****_Wait for it, _****_I told the sea. The pressure now was almost lifting me off my feet._**

Slowly the others were also grasping what the plan was.

"Not a bad idea." Ponos said nodding.

**_Ares raised his sword. I released the tide and jumped, rocketing straight over Ares on a wave._**

**_A six-foot wall of water smashed him full in the face, leaving him cursing and sputtering with a mouth full of sea weed._**

There was some scattered laughter at this seeing how they could not forget that Ares was not in full control of his own actions at the moment, but the picture was really not easy to be ignored.

**_I landed behind him with a splash and feinted toward his head, as I'd done before. He turned in time to raise his sword, but this time he was disoriented, he didn't anticipate the trick._**

"Well having a wave which pressure had been increased crash on you probably feels as if you had run head first against a wall so him being disoriented is possible." Kratos pointed out.

**_I changed direction, lunged to the side, and stabbed Riptide straight down into the water, sending the point through the god's heel._**

A few divinities flinched as they remembered poor Achilles and his fate.

**_The roar that followed made Hades's earthquake look like a minor event._**

"Father had been frustrated and tired when you meet him while this was a cry of pain and anger, big difference." Zagreus said with a shrug.

**_The very sea was blasted back from Ares, leaving a wet circle of sand fifty feet wide._**

**_Ichor, the golden blood of the gods, flowed from a gash in the war god's boot. The expression on his face was beyond hatred. It was pain, shock, complete disbelief that he'd been wounded._**

"I think his reaction is more then understandable, not many mortals had managed till now to give father as much as a scratch and I fear that having managed this while he is not fully himself will be not exactly the best thing." Adrestia pointed out with many of the others nodding, while it was not unheard of a demigod wounding a god it rarely ended well for the demigod in the end.

**_He limped toward me, muttering ancient Greek curses._**

**_Something stopped him._**

Everyone tensed at hearing this.

**_It was as if a cloud covered the sun, but worse._**

"If it is whom I think it is then it is way worse then a cloud." Aether said while pulling Hemera closer, his eyes narrowing as he looked at the palace.

**_Light faded. Sound and color drained away._**

Everyone swallowed hard at hearing this, such a display of divine presence could not come from someone who was securely trapped, he was slowly raising from his prison.

**_A cold, heavy presence passed over the beach, slowing time, dropping the temperature to freezing, and making me feel like life was hopeless, fighting was useless._**

Several growls filled the air outside of the palace and those who were gathered were sure that those inside the palace were having the same reaction as them.

A few minutes needed to pass till Apollo's voice could be heard again.

**_The darkness lifted._**

**_Ares looked stunned._**

At this let several deities out relieved sighs, but no one looked more pleased outside then the children of the war god.

"Good, grandfather's presence had left him." Enyo said sighing in relief when she suddenly felt a warm body pressing against her's, looking to her right she spotted the source in her younger sister Hebe. Giving the other a soft smile she pulled the Goddess of Youth closer.

**_Police cars were burning behind us. The crowd of spectators had fled. Annabeth and Grover stood on the beach, in shock, watching the water flood back around Ares's feet, his glowing golden ichor dissipating in the tide._**

**_Ares lowered his sword._**

At this come more relieved sighs, the fight was over, but they were still worried what Ares would do then even thought he was not influenced anymore in his actions by Kronos, his pride was still wounded.

**_"You have made an enemy, godling," he told me. "You have sealed your fate. Every time you raise your blade in battle, every time you hope for success, you will feel my curse. Beware, Perseus Jackson. Beware."_**

"That is actually one of the milder curses and can actually be played around." stated one of the Arae sisters who were responsible for curses, well mostly for those placed by the dead on the guilty, but they also regained over other ones also.

"Really, how can one play out this one?" Selene asked the sisters.

"This is a curse of the suggestive, believe type ones meaning if in a fight he does not call it to mind it will stay dormant in effect, also even if he remembers it and it activates the strength of it depends on how much he is concentrating on it." another one explained.

"Meaning even if he remembers it during a fight, but is busy to concentrate more on fighting then the curse then he may still have a chance to win it, but foremost he has a chance to survive the fight." Tyche guessed.

"Correct." come it from the Arae sisters at which many relaxed.

"Seems as if Ares certainly gave that demigod a much tamer burden to bear then his father." stated Horkos the one responsible for oaths and of course the curse their carry, he had not long ago arrived due to a message sent by his mother Eris and got informed by Helios about the oath Zeus and Poseidon took on the Styx and broke. He could really only shake his head at the idiocy of that action and what they had brought upon the two unfortunate demigods.

**_His body began to glow._**

"And now is it a good time for them to turn away and close their eyes." Iris said worriedly while inside the palace gave Hera an apologetic look to Dionysus while Zeus looked uncomfortable.

Thyone who was sitting in the shades of another olive tree flinched, remembering her own foolish curiosity, sure Hera may have talked to her, but it had still been her persistent begging. From the corner of her eyes she caught the eyes of her mother Harmonia, the only one beside her son Dionysus, daughter-in-law, Lord Hades and Lady Hestia who knew who she had once been. She managed to give a small smile back to her mother to reassure her that she was fine.

**_'''Percy!" Annabeth shouted. "Don't watch!"_**

"Good advice." Eros said.

**_I turned away as the god Ares revealed his true immortal form. I somehow knew that if I looked, I would disintegrate into ashes._**

"Instinct." one of the Keres whispered.

**_The light died._**

**_I looked back. Ares was gone. The tide rolled out to reveal Hades's bronze helm of darkness. I picked it up and walked toward my friends._**

The three children of Hades let out a sigh of relief that their father's Symbol of Power was safe and not lost.

**_But before I got there, I heard the flapping of leathery wings. Three evil-looking grandmothers_**

Some snickered at this.

**_with lace hats and fiery whips drifted down from the sky and landed in front of me._**

**_The middle Fury, the one who had been Mrs. Dodds, stepped forward. Her fangs were bared, but for once she didn't look threatening. She looked more disappointed, as if she'd been planning to have me for supper, but had decided I might give her indigestion._**

The snickers turned into full out laughs as everyone imagined Alecto's expression.

**_"We saw the whole thing," she hissed. "So ... it truly was not you?"_**

**_I tossed her the helmet, which she caught in surprise._**

**_"Return that to Lord Hades," I said. "Tell him the truth. Tell him to call off the war."_**

"Father will certainly do that the moment they arrive in the Underworld, you can be sure about that young hero that he will know the truth." Macaria said smiling, glad that at least this will be over, she started to like this young demigod.

**_She hesitated,_**

"She had not expected you so freely giving the Helm back and only these two request, the truth and the halting of a war." Melinoe said, she was also starting to get interested in this hero and wondered what he would do in the future.

**_then ran a forked tongue over her green, leathery lips. "Live well, Percy Jackson. Become a true hero. Because if you do not, if you ever come into my clutches again …"_**

"That is quiet an achievement, he got Alecto's respect, she usually never gives advice to demigods." Zagreus said in a stunned tone while those who knew her nodded their heads in agreement with him.

**_She cackled, savouring the idea. Then she and her sisters rose on their bats' wings, fluttered into the smoke-filled sky, and disappeared._**

**_I joined Grover and Annabeth, who were staring at me in amazement._**

"And he is stunned about that." Bia laughed in amusement with some of the others also joining in or just grinning.

**_"Percy ..." Grover said. "That was so incredibly ..."_**

**_"Terrifying," said Annabeth._**

**_"Cool!" Grover corrected._**

This caused even more laughter.

**_I didn't feel terrified. I certainly didn't feel cool. I was tired and sore and completely drained of energy._**

"Understandable, he just fought a god and was lucky that he had gotten out of that fight alive, not severely maimed and could even land a hit, which is enough battling for him regards the upcoming weeks, he should return with the Bold fast and then rest and get treated for his wounds." Aceso said in a motherly, but still firm tone.

**_"Did you guys feel that... whatever it was?" I asked._**

"That was unfortunately something you are related to and if you would have a normal family relationship with him you would call him grandpa." Boreas stated sarcastically while a few divinities needed to snicker at the way ha had phrased it.

**_They both nodded uneasily._**

**_"Must've been the Furies overhead," Grover said._**

"We wish." come several replies.

**_But I wasn't so sure. Something had stopped Ares from killing me, and whatever could do that was a lot stronger than the Furies._**

Everyone nodded darkly, he certainly got that right.

**_I looked at Annabeth, and an understanding passed between us. I knew now what was in that pit, what had spoken from the entrance of Tartarus._**

The mood darkened even more as all gazes slowly shifted over to the white palace, wondering what price will be needed to be paid for Zeus to acknowledge the idea that his father was slowly raising from his prison.

**_I reclaimed my backpack from Grover and looked inside. The master bolt was still there. Such a small thing to almost cause World War III._**

"Well, father just loves his toy." Enyo said testily while still having her sister lean against her.

**_"We have to get back to New York," I said. "By tonight."_**

**_"That's impossible," Annabeth said, "unless we—"_**

**_"Fly," I agreed._**

"This is the only way." Iris said sighing.

"At least will Percy not need to fear that father will blast him out of the sky due to the fact that his beloved plaything is with him." Enyo told the goddess reassuringly.

**_She stared at me. _**

There were some stray snickers going through the group, they could certainly understand why Athena's daughter would react like this.

**_" Fly, like, in an airplane, which you were warned never to do lest Zeus strike you out of the sky, _****_and _****_carrying a weapon that has more destructive power than a nuclear bomb?"_**

"And as pointed out, he loves that thing too much he would never dare too even risk it getting a scratch." Enyo stated again, her father was sometimes really too predictable.

**_"Yeah," I said. "Pretty much exactly like that. Come on."_**

After this sentence there was a small silence for a few minutes when a voice drifted outside again, but this time it was Artemis who spoke so everyone guessed that the they were not by a new chapter.

_"_**_I Settle My Tab," _**come the voice of the huntress at which a good deal of divinities exchanged confused glances with each other.

_To be continued…_


	21. Good, hard justice

XXI. Good, hard justice

"Is he old enough to drink?" Iris asked when hearing the title.

"I doubt that the laws for drinking age got lowered, looking at the fact how even adults act after drinking." answered back Dike.

"Somehow I doubt that the title has much to do with dirking, it might not be literally only a better way to say I finish up the quest." Helios suggested at which some of the others nodded, this certainly made more sense then Percy having a bar tab.

**_It's funny how humans can wrap their mind around things and fit them into their version of reality._**

"The mind of normal mortals is rather easy to manipulate, but it is kind of sad to know how much will be forgotten in the future." commented Aletheia as she brushed a lock of her dark hair from her eyes which fell on them when small breeze come up, she did not try figuring out which of the wind spirits it was who made it.

"Unfortunately is change something which is inventible and it lays mostly in the mortals hands what the results will be." Moros seeing how he stood the closest to his sisters the Fates, beside their mother that is, he felt through his property that there would be much hardship to come due to the coming changes and not only for the mortals, but for those of divine being also.

**_Chiron had told me that long ago. As usual, I didn't appreciate his wisdom until much later._**

"Don't worry child, most only appreciate the wisdom of their elders only later after hearing them." Hebe said in a kind tone before she sighed sorrowfully. "We can only hope that father will also understand this." she added in while gazing at the soft grass.

"Preferably before too much damage happens and even more members of this family get hurt one way or the other." Enyo growled from beside her sister, she was still angry how her father and uncles were set up, how her nephews, nieces and cousin were set up and used just like her brother. This was not the time for her father to be stubborn, but to be their king.

**_According to the L.A. news, the explosion at the Santa Monica beach had been caused when a crazy kidnapper fired a shotgun at a police car._**

There was suddenly a hushed silence all over the close vicinity of the palace as everyone stared at the palace if they heard it right before a storm of uncontrolled and hysterical laughter broke out with many divinities rolling around on the ground clutching their stomachs or grasping for air.

"A…_hahaha…_Ares wi..._ha_…will definiately…no…not _hahahaha…_like this…_hah_…" Enyo managed to get out when it seemed she would be getting an answer to her statement.

_WHO ARE THEY CALLING A CRAZY KIDNAPPE_R_!__!__! _

This of course only increased the laughter and even after ten minutes when Artemis started speaking again were some still trying to get their snickers under control.

**_He accidentally hit a gas main that had ruptured during the earthquake._**

"Not sure what they are actually saying, but it sounds rather believable for the ears of one not believing in gods." Eros said as several of the others nodded their heads in agreement with him.

**_This crazy kidnapper (a.k.a. Ares) _**

Cue renewed snickers.

"Something tells me that neither Hermes nor Apollo will let him live this one down." Kratos said while biting back a small snicker which wanted to escape his lips, he did not really have much against the god, but knew that he needed to be sometimes cooled off and with those two gods loving to tease and prank others, now they only needed someone who could cool Zeus down. He took the oath on his mother too lightly as did Poseidon which made him flinch as he remembered how the river which his mother had created and resides hidden under its shores will look in the future.

Not fun to hear regards a being who had born you, looking to his side he could see it on the faces of his siblings Nike, Bia and Zelus were thinking the same.

**_was the same man who had abducted me and two other adolescents in New York and brought us across country on a ten-day odyssey of terror._**

"Well, it certainly was a frightening journey, but why do they call it 'odyssey'?" asked a confused looking Techne, stopping for a few seconds her work on vase painting in front of her.

Pelomos who was sitting not far from her only blinked a few times and decided not to wonder why she was doing a vase painting while listening to the book, somehow he knew that trying to figure out why they personification of art and skill is painting at a time like this would not lead anywhere.

"You remember how long it took Odysseus to get home after he offended Poseidon, they may have taken his name as a synonym for a long journey not going close to anything peaceful and careless." Aeolus told her with a shrug, that whole thing would have ended sooner if those foolish men going with the kind could have kept their curiosity at bay and not released the winds in the bag he gave to the man. Well they had brought that upon themselves.

**_Poor little Percy Jackson wasn't an international criminal after all._**

There were several snorts, so now they accept that the boy was innocent.

**_He'd caused a commotion on that Greyhound bus in New Jersey trying to get away from his captor (and afterward, witnesses would even swear they had seen the leather-clad man on the bus—"Why didn't I remember him before?"). _**

"This mist is highly manipulative and potent in power, could it be your work Hecate?" Tyche asked the goddess curiously, but she only shook her head.

"As you said it is highly powerful and I need to admit that it may be over my own powers, if I may need to think about it, the mist may be a work from those born by Lord Chaos" here she let her gaze wander over the children of Night. "To be more precise I would say this was born from the combined power of Lady Nyx as well of Lords Tartaros and Eros. Unlike the name it carries it seems much like the veil of night Milady uses to draw over the world while it is constant and pulls up immediately even if no one is there to call upon it meaning that someone bound to earth moves it and with the oldest of them slumbering that leaves only one deity powerful enough to control such a power while it does not only influence sight and mind, but also feelings just like love tends to manipulate your views." she explained her reasoning while the others listened silently, her words made sense before they sent a silent prayer of gratitude to the three ancient divinities.

"We are lucky that Lady Nyx and the Lords are so thoughtful." whispered one of the dryads to her friends sitting with her.

"So true and she is also both intelligent and beautiful." another added in with admiring tone, making the others nod.

**_The crazy man_**

This time could everyone hold in their snickers, but the smirks of amusement still come through.

"Those mortals had never seen him in his crazy state." Enyo mumbled to herself, not many of the mortals even in their time knew that the ground why in each war she stuck to her brother was not due to her being the Goddess of Destructive War, but because she was one of the only few who could restrain Ares when the bloodshed of war gets to him and he is slipping into a blood frenzy.

**_had caused the explosion in the St. Louis Arch. After all, no kid could've done that._**

Cue snorts and amused looks, these mortals had never babysitted a baby deity or monster and one should not forget the demigods, age does not matter in their case when it comes to cause destruction.

"Well in a small way they got it right that Percy did not cause the explosion, that was the Chimera." someone spoke up.

"By the way, should we not get Deimos and Phobos?" Anteros asked his siblings.

"I agree with you, I will go and get them." Eros said and was about to stand up, but his brother placed a hand on his arm with a warm smile on his lips which made the other look up confused at his favourite little brother he had in a way received as a playmate.

"Let me go, I will try to drag them out here." he said with a grin on his lips while gesturing for his two youngest siblings to also not move, Phobos was harder to deal with when those two were present, on in the vicinity of his sight and he wanted to convince them as fast as possible. "Leave those two to me to deal with." he said while standing up and stretching his butterfly like wings, smoothing out the soft feathers and making his way to the temples of Fear and Terror.

**_A concerned waitress in Denver had seen the man threatening his abductees outside her diner, gotten a friend to take a photo, and notified the police. Finally, brave Percy Jackson (I was beginning to like this kid) _**

A few could not help themselves to roll their eyes.

**_had stolen a gun from his captor in Los Angeles and battled him shotgun-to-rifle on the beach._**

"And they think that this is a plausible explanation?" Iris asked in slight outrage, if that boy would not be a demigod, but a normal mortal child who had been forcefully taken away by an adult and held for so long as a captive, leave alone that the way they painted Ares would imply that the children were not only intimidated, but also hurt by him, under normal circumates would such a scenario not happen regards a mortal child.

**_Police had arrived just in time. _**

"And would have been quiet useless towards a god." Epiphron said sarcastically while rolling his eyes.

"And would have ended up as additional work for our siblings." Moros added in from beside his brother.

"I can certainly imagine that Charon would have given them a serious scolding for the interfering and ending up in front of him." Epiphron replied back with a grin on his lips while his brother smirked.

"You know that you certainly sound cruel for someone who represents thoughtfulness and carefulness in their nature." he told the other who only shrugged.

"The same goes for prudence, shrewdness and sagacity." he reminded his younger sibling.

**_But in the spectacular explosion,_**

"Nah, he can do better." come it from Pelomos.

**_five police cars had been destroyed and the captor had fled. No fatalities had occurred._**

At this a good deal of deities sighed in relief.

**_Percy Jackson and his two friends were safely in police custody._**

**_The reporters fed us this whole story. We just nodded_**

A few deities snorted.

**_and acted tearful and exhausted (which wasn't hard),_**

This caused even more amusement, seeing what those three had gone through was it no wonder that they were exhausted beyond words.

**_and played victimized kids for the cameras._**

More snickers.

**_"All I want," I said, choking back my tears, "is to see my loving stepfather again._**

A good deal of divinities looked confused at this before Eris broke out suddenly laughing with Nemesis looking also amused.

"I have the feeling that he is about to take revenge in a rather amusing way." Nemesis explained from beside her laughing sister who had explained her acting to their nephew for Morpheus was also on the grass laughing with his aunt.

"I love all the implications." said a grinning Aetna, she was more relaxed now that she felt the Mount Etna calming down, she guessed that Hephaestus got his temper under control now that his brother was out from under the mind control.

The others outside also started grinning and waited eagerly to hear what Percy will pull of.

**_Every time I saw him on TV, calling me a delinquent punk, I knew ... somehow ... we would be okay._**

"And of course no one noted how this sentence contradict with itself." Iris said while shaking her head, but the others were still waiting to hear the revenge, if someone beside Kronos, then Gabe deserved it.

**_And I know he'll want to reward each and every person_**

Everyone was leaning closer, this was already starting good.

**_in this beautiful city of Los Angeles with a free major appliance from his store._**

Now again broke everyone out in hysterical laughter, they just knew how the mortals would react to getting something for free. The idea was brilliant and would ruin that mortal financially which he certainly deserved.

"Well, if he should not immediately land in the Underworld maybe we can have some fun with him, he certainly is in need to get a good deal of weight down." said Limos who personified hunger and starvation while looking over at Ptocheia and her sister Penia who together were in duty for beggary and poverty.

"Good idea, it is rare that we would enjoy our work." Ptocheia replied back smiling and this was the truth, her work and that of her sisters was often painful, but with this person it would be good for he deserves it.

**_Here's the phone number."_**

This made everyone start snickering again.

**_The police and reporters were so moved that they passed around the hat and raised money for three tickets on the next plane to New York._**

"Good, now they need to hurry before a two-way war breaks out between father and uncle Zeus." urged Despoina with many others nodding.

**_I knew there was no choice but to fly. I hoped Zeus would cut me some slack, considering the circumstances. But it was still hard to force myself on board the flight._**

"Understandable." come it from Soter.

**_Takeoff was a nightmare. Every spot of turbulence was scarier than a Greek monster. _**

"Gee father, one would think by your actions that you don't even want your Bolt back." Enyo said testily while glaring at the palace.

**_I didn't unclench my hands from the armrests until we touched down safely at La Guardia. The local press was waiting for us outside security, but we managed to evade them thanks to Annabeth, who lured them away in her invisible Yankees cap, shouting, "They're over by the frozen yogurt! Come on!" then rejoined us at baggage claim._**

There were several nods of approval, they had not time to chat around, there was a divine war bereaving which needed to be stopped at all costs.

**_We split up at the taxi stand._**

"Why would they split up?" a nymph asked in confusion, but no one had an answer for her question.

**_I told Annabeth and Grover to get back to Half-Blood Hill and let Chiron know what had happened. They protested, and it was hard to let them go after all we'd been through, but I knew I had to do this last part of the quest by myself. If things went wrong, if the gods didn't believe me ... I wanted Annabeth and Grover to survive to tell Chiron the truth._**

"That was actually a good idea, but I think they will believe him, father can tell if someone is not speaking the truth." Apollonis spoke up from beside her sisters who were nodding beside one who spoke up after her sister.

"Though sadly there is no guarantee that father or any of the other council members will be in the throne room." come the soft voice of Nete which made everyone exchange worried glances.

"Let us hope that someone else is also there beside grandfather." Cephisso reassured while looking at her sister that she please should not cling to that worry.

**_I hopped in a taxi and headed into Manhattan._**

**_Thirty minutes later, I walked into the lobby of the Empire State Building._**

**_I must have looked like a homeless kid, with my tattered clothes and my scraped-up face. I hadn't slept in at least twenty-four hours._**

"That is a normal look for demigods on the last day of their quest." Clio the muse of history spoke up with a shrug of her shoulder. "Don't fret over it to much."

**_I went up to the guard at the front desk and said, "Six hundredth floor."_**

**_He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. I wasn't much into fantasy, but the book must've been good, because the guard took a while to look up. "No such floor, kiddo."_**

There were several frowns at this.

**_"I need an audience with Zeus."_**

**_He gave me a vacant smile. "Sorry?"_**

**_"You heard me."_**

**_I was about to decide this guy was just a regular mortal,_**

"Doubt it that they would place a mortal there, he is either demigod, minor god, monster or automaton." Iaso spoke up.

**_and I'd better run for it before he called the straitjacket patrol, when he said, "No appointment, no audience, kiddo. Lord Zeus doesn't see anyone unannounced."_**

"FATHER /UNCLE /GRANDFATHER /GRANDUNCLE/ZEUS /LORD ZEUS!" come the incredulous yells mixing in with the ones haling from the palace.

"He was the one setting the date when he wants that toy back and does not even take the time to inform the guard…that god…" Enyo was boiling from rage, just what was his father doing in this book, seriously her uncle Hades works himself almost to fading while their so called ruler can't even show a small patience to his own demigod nephew. She dearly hoped for him that his excuse for being like this will be _not_ that her uncle Poseidon broke the oath they made, because he broke it first.

**_"Oh, I think he'll make an exception." I slipped off my backpack and unzipped the top._**

Suddenly several deities started grinning, they liked the plan.

**_The guard looked inside at the metal cylinder, not getting what it was for a few seconds. Then his face went pale. "That isn't..."_**

The grins grew wider and more wicked as their owners nodded their heads as if the poor guard could see them.

**_"Yes, it is," I promised. "You want me take it out and—"_**

"I love this kid." Hybris laughed in amusement.

"You certainly would." come it from Soteria told the other while rolling her eyes.

"Come on dear, a little outrageous behaviour was needed here." come the cheeky reply which made the other huff in annoyance and turn away because she could not argue.

**_"No! No!" He scrambled out of his seat, fumbled around his desk for a key card, then handed it to me. "Insert this in the security slot. Make sure nobody else is in the elevator with you."_**

"Good." Iris said nodding her head.

**_I did as he told me. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I slipped the key into the slot. The card disappeared and a new button appeared on the console, a red one that said 600._**

**_I pressed it and waited, and waited._**

**_Muzak played. "Raindrops keep falling on my head..."_**

**_Finally, _****_ding. _****_The doors slid open. I stepped out and almost had a heart attack._**

There were several smiles and some amused looks, most tended to react like this the first time they see Olymphos.

**_I was standing on a narrow stone walkway in the middle of the air. Below me was Manhattan, from the height of an airplane. _**

**_In front of me, white marble steps wound up the spine of a cloud, into the sky. My eyes followed the stairway to its end, where my brain just could not accept what I saw._**

**_Look again, my brain said._**

**_We're looking, my eyes insisted. It's really there._**

"Not the right time to debate with your senses young hero." a nymph said with a small laugh as others also joined in.

**_From the top of the clouds rose the decapitated peak of a mountain, its summit covered with snow. Clinging to the mountainside were dozens of multileveled palaces—a city of mansions—all with white-columned porticos, gilded terraces, and bronze braziers glowing with a thousand fires. Roads wound crazily up to the peak, where the largest palace gleamed against the snow. Precariously perched gar dens bloomed with olive trees and rosebushes. I could make out an open-air market filled with colorful tents, a stone amphitheater built on one side of the mountain, a hippodrome and a coliseum on the other. It was an Ancient Greek city, except it wasn't in ruins._**

The last word made the deities flinch, they did not like the implication all to much.

**_It was new, and clean, and colorful, the way Athens must've looked twenty-five hundred years ago._**

"Huh, it looks different now?" Selene asked in confusion, a feeling most of the others shared with her, but they guessed that it only meant that it was modernized somewhat, even thought it would loose so much of his beauty.

**_This place can't be here, I told myself. The tip of a mountain hanging over New York City like a billion-ton asteroid? How could something like that be anchored above the Empire State Building, in plain sight of millions of people, and not get noticed?_**

Now that they had heard about the explanation of who could have created the mist the divinities felt again a source of respect for the three powerful siblings.

**_But here it was. And here I was._**

"Well, this is a part of your reality." Harmonia said smiling in a gentle way.

**_My trip through Olympus was a daze. I passed some giggling wood nymphs who threw olives at me from their garden. _**

The wood nymphs blushed a deep shade of red when everyone turned in their direction.

**_Hawkers in the market offered to sell me ambrosia-on-a-stick, and a new shield, and a genuine glitter-weave replica of the Golden Fleece, as seen on Hephaestus-TV The nine muses were tuning their instruments for a concert in the park_**

Said Muses blushed that he had noticed them.

**_while a small crowd gathered—satyrs and naiads and a bunch of good-looking teenagers who might've been minor gods and goddesses._**

Cue more blushing while everyone wondered if they will be also in the crowd or not.

**_Nobody seemed worried about an impending civil war. In fact, everybody seemed in a festive mood. _**

At this everyone frowned.

"Ugh…don't tell me that only the council knew about the whole thing." Hecate snapped as she glared at the palace from which for a few seconds a dark energy seemed to stream out.

"I would not be surprised if it would be hidden till the last minute, I mean we are not dense to party when a divine war is in front of us." Enyo hissed, this was incredibly irresponsible, it seemed that others also shared her view for they also looked agitated.

"If this goes on will Zeus in the end be the fall of the Western Civilization." Nemesis mumbled to herself and looking at her siblings she noted their agreement, their sisters the Fates did good in allowing these books to be sent to them.

**_Several of them turned to watch me pass, and whispered to themselves._**

"Only the most important quests bring a hero to come to Olymphos and if we really had no clue about the stolen items then we are probably confused about what is going on." Kratos said with a shrug.

**_I climbed the main road, toward the big palace at the peak. It was a reverse copy of the palace in the Underworld._**

At this every deity who did not frequent in the Underworld snapped their heads up and looked with wide eyes over at the children of Hades who ignored them, but were intently looking at the palace.

**_There, everything had been black and bronze. Here, every thing glittered white and silver._**

The other divinities were still ignored by the siblings they wanted to know what their young cousin thinks now that he had figured out what no other demigod seemed to have even if they had seen the palace.

**_I realized Hades must've built his palace to resemble this one. He wasn't welcomed in Olympus except on the winter solstice, so he'd built his own Olympus underground. _**

The other deities finally dropped their gazes from the siblings and looked uncomfortably at the ground, somehow these words made them feel guilty as they looked back how they tended to react to Hades while inside the palace said god only told his niece is a soft voice that she should please continue reading while avoiding the gazes the others were giving him.

**_Despite my bad experience with him, I felt a little sorry for the guy. To be banished from this place seemed really unfair. It would make anybody bitter._**

"Thank you Percy for trying to understand." Macaria whispered as she put her hands together, her eyes closed, beside her both of her siblings were also having small smiles on their lips due to the words of their cousin while again inside Hades asked Artemis to continue.

**_Steps led up to a central courtyard. Past that, the throne room._**

**_Room _****_really isn't the right word. The place made Grand Central Station look like a broom closet. Massive columns rose to a domed ceiling, which was gilded with moving constellations._**

The children of Nyx smiled it had been their mother who had let that be set up.

**_Twelve thrones, built for beings the size of Hades, were arranged in an inverted U, just like the cabins at Camp Half-Blood. An enormous fire crackled in the central hearth pit. The thrones were empty except for two at the end: the head throne on the right, and the one to its immediate left._**

This made many sigh in relief, at least was he not alone with Zeus.

**_I didn't have to be told who the two gods were that were sitting there, waiting for me to approach. _**

This made them relax even more, it would be troublesome if he would not know which gods he is facing.

**_I came toward them, my legs trembling._**

**_The gods were in giant human form, as Hades had been, but I could barely look at them without feeling a tingle, as if my body were starting to burn. _**

There were several eye rolls, someone could not stop being dramatic.

**_Zeus, the Lord of the Gods, wore a dark blue pinstriped suit. _**

At this looked a few confused, but seeing how till now beside Hestia and Hades everyone seemed to have changed outfits they should not be surprised.

**_He sat on a simple throne of solid platinum. He had a well-trimmed beard, marbled gray and black like a storm cloud. His face was proud and handsome and grim, his eyes rainy gray._**

Everyone nodded their heads at the correct description.

**_As I got nearer to him, the air crackled and smelled of ozone._**

**_The god sitting next to him was his brother, without a doubt, but he was dressed very differently. He reminded me of a beachcomber from Key West. He wore leather sandals, khaki Bermuda shorts, and a Tommy Bahama shirt with coconuts and parrots all over it._**

Everyone shook their heads in amusement at this, Poseidon had always been the less serious one if it did not come to war and such.

**_His skin was deeply tanned, his hands scarred like an old-time fisherman's. His hair was black, like mine. His face had that same brooding look that had always gotten me branded a rebel._**

Cue snorts, the Sea God was always rebellious.

**_But his eyes, sea green like mine, were surrounded by sun-crinkles that told me he smiled a lot, too._**

More nods.

**_His throne was a deep-sea fisherman's chair. It was the simple swiveling kind, with a black leather seat and a built-in holster for a fishing pole. Instead of a pole, the holster held a bronze trident, flickering with green light around the tips._**

**_The gods weren't moving or speaking, but there was tension in the air, as if they'd just finished an argument._**

"Like usual, so nothing new there." come it from several deities, the two brothers seemed to love arguing with each other.

**_I approached the fisherman's throne and knelt at his feet. "Father." _**

"Uh…nice that he does that, but this should have come as second." Eleos said carefully.

"It is an idiotic rule made to boost his ego, it should be normal for a child to greet their parent first, he has enough divine and demigod children to bow to him first." Eris spoke up in an annoyed tone knowing that no one would dare arguing with her, mostly not when her sisters the Keres bared their teeth at the others.

**_I dared not look up. My heart was racing. I could feel the energy emanating from the two gods. If I said the wrong thing, I had no doubt they could blast me into dust._**

"Your uncle usually would not even need for you to do anything for that to happen." one of the Keres whispered to her sisters.

**_To my left, Zeus spoke. "Should you not address the master of this house first, boy?"_**

The children and grandchildren of Nyx all rolled their eyes while no one dared to comment to them, they knew their dislike for Zeus as well as the fact what their option was regards family.

**_I kept my head down, and waited._**

**_"Peace, brother," Poseidon finally said. His voice stirred my oldest memories: that warm glow I remembered as a baby, the sensation of this god's hand on my forehead, _**

This relaxed the kin of night and even made a few of them smile.

**_" The boy defers to his father. This is only right."_**

"Yes, because this is how it should be." Phantasos said determinedly as he appeared close to the Keres who made space for their brother as that folded his wings glistering in bright colours behind his back.

**_"You still claim him then?" Zeus asked, menacingly. _**

And the were back to glaring.

**_"You claim this child whom you sired against our sacred oath?"_**

"Look who is speaking." Hemera hissed in a menacing tone while Hecate noted the dark energy she felt not long ago and several times before in he palace returning, together with the sound of something breaking inside.

**_"I have admitted my wrongdoing," Poseidon said. "Now I would hear him speak."_**

The air was slowly filling with unkind words towards Zeus while the others were either frowning or glaring at the palace, the later mostly done by the children of Zeus who were the option that their father is seriously crossing dangerous boundaries there.

**_Wrongdoing._**

**_A lump welled up in my throat. Was that all I was? A wrongdoing? The result of a god's mistake?_**

The glares and muttering grew in volume and numbers, that young hero had done so much only shortly after realizing what he was, oath or not this is not a way someone who nearly died to prevent a three way divine war should be treated.

**_"I have spared him once already," Zeus grumbled. "Daring to fly through my domain ... pah! I should have blasted him out of the sky for his impudence."_**

"I seriously wish to give father a punch." Enyo growled in agitation while Hebe shook in her arms, that demigod went up there to get the Master Bolt back in time, if their father did not wish for him in his domain then maybe he should have flashed to his nephew anstead.

**_"And risk destroying your own master bolt?" Poseidon asked calmly. "Let us hear him out, brother."_**

**_Zeus grumbled some more. "I shall listen," he decided. "Then I shall make up my mind whether or not to cast this boy down from Olympus."_**

Cue more growls and curses while a few angered voices streamed out from the palace.

**_"Perseus," Poseidon said. "Look at me."_**

**_I did, and I wasn't sure what I saw in his face. There was no clear sign of love or approval. Nothing to encourage me. It was like looking at the ocean: some days, you could tell what mood it was in. Most days, though, it was unreadable, mysterious._**

Everyone nodded, it was not easy to know how Poseidon felt on some days, but they agreed that this was the worst time to be one of those days, his son needed some type of encouragement.

**_I got the feeling Poseidon really didn't know what to think of me. He didn't know whether he was happy to have me as a son or not. _**

"Don't worry, I think you are confusing al of us how to truly feel about you, because act unlike most demigods." Macaria said kindly, she decided that she preferred this one over most others who dwelled on the Isles.

**_In a strange way, I was glad that Poseidon was so distant. In a strange way, I was glad that Poseidon was so distant._**

At this looked a few confused while Ariadne smiled softly, she was slowly getting why he felt that, if Lord Poseidon would have acted around him like a father would with whom you have grown up with, or even apologizing for his absence, it would feel fake and not true so the feeling of uncertainty was a type of reassurance for him to deal with the meeting.

**_If he'd tried to apologize, or told me he loved me, or even smiled, it would've felt fake._**

Ariadne nodded, so she had been right with her assumption, if noting much her own father Minos had teached her this much, he was not the best father, but there were few, small times in which he was a father.

**_Like a human dad, making some lame excuse for not being around. I could live with that. After all, I wasn't sure about him yet, either._**

A good deal of the divinities looked sad and uncertain if their own children felt like this regards them.

**_"Address Lord Zeus, boy," Poseidon told me. "Tell him your story."_**

"At least he is allowed to speak." Tyche scoffed in annoyance.

**_So I told Zeus everything, just as it had happened. I took out the metal cylinder, which began sparking in the Sky God's presence, and laid it at his feet._**

**_There was a long silence, broken only by the crackle of the hearth fire._**

**_Zeus opened his palm. The lightning bolt flew into it._**

**_As he closed his fist, the metallic points flared with electricity, until he was holding what looked more like the classic thunderbolt, a twenty-foot javelin of arcing, hissing energy that made the hairs on my scalp rise._**

**_"I sense the boy tells the truth," Zeus muttered. "But that Ares would do such a thing ... it is most unlike him."_**

"Father, did you fall asleep while he was telling you the story, our brother was possessed!" Hebe cried out incredulously, she has always adored both of her elder blood-brothers, Ares always protected her from others who as much as made her shiver while Hephaestus always gave her automatons she could play with. She hated the thought that something may happen to one of her two big brothers and their father just ignores it.

"_Ssss,_ it is alright, if he does nothing then we will do." Enyo reassured her little sister while rubbing her back in comfort, they will certainly do something to protect their family from that fiend.

**_"He is proud and impulsive," Poseidon said. "It runs in the family."_**

"This family curse has only partially to do with the situation at hand." Helios hissed, his cousins needed to act and that better sooner then later, he may love his parents, but his father could be ruthless most of the times against those he saw as an enemy.

**_"Lord?" I asked._**

**_They both said, "Yes?"_**

Many rolled their eyes at the brothers.

**_"Ares didn't act alone. Someone else—something else— came up with the idea."_**

The children of the War God smiled thankfully that Percy no matter his option would defend their father and point out that he had also been a victim like many others in this plot.

**_I described my dreams, and the feeling I'd had on the beach, that momentary breath of evil that had seemed to stop the world, and made Ares back off from killing me._**

**_"In the dreams," I said, "the voice told me to bring the bolt to the Underworld. Ares hinted that he'd been having dreams, too. I think he was being used, just as I was, to start a war."_**

More nods and thankful smiles for the words Percy had spoken, these words seemed to also calm Hebe down which made Enyo smile in gratefulness for the unintentional help.

**_"You are accusing Hades, after all?" Zeus asked._**

"Sometimes I really wonder whatever Father had done against him for him to be so eager to accuse him for anything." Zagreus growled testily, he had once asked Angelos if she knew the ground, but she had only shook her head and told him that she did not wish to talk about Zeus with which he was perfectly fine.

**_"No," I said._**

His scowl only lessened a small bit at this.

**_"I mean, Lord Zeus, I've been in the presence of Hades. This feeling on the beach was different. It was the same thing I felt when I got close to that pit. That was the entrance to Tartarus, wasn't it? Something powerful and evil is stirring down there ... something even older than the gods."_**

Many nodded darkly while those who had a parent down there or were the few not imprisoned or banished titans looked at the ground bitterly, things will be complicated again and of course in their case would it again not count who wins.

**_Poseidon and Zeus looked at each other. They had a quick, intense discussion in Ancient Greek. I only caught one word. _****_Father._**

More dark nods.

**_Poseidon made some kind of suggestion, but Zeus cut him off. Poseidon tried to argue. Zeus held up his hand angrily. "We will speak of this no more," Zeus said._**

Many felt their yaws drop before the sounds of disbelief from out and inside the palace mixed together. They just could not believe that the threat would be ignored just like that! Zeus could not be serious, after all what he was told and happened was he denying that they were all in grave danger!

**_"I must go personally to purify this thunderbolt in the waters of Lemnos, to remove the human taint from its metal."_**

"Maybe we will not allow you to get near there." hissed Alkon as the other Cabeiri who held that island as their domain nodded their heads while the others growled again some unkind words under their breaths.

**_He rose and looked at me. His expression softened just a fraction of a degree. "You have done me a service, boy. Few heroes could have accomplished as much."_**

"At least he acklovages that." someone said testily.

**_"I had help, sir," I said. "Grover Underwood and Annabeth Chase—"_**

**_"To show you my thanks, I shall spare your life. _**

"And he is back to be a jerk again." Eris grumbled while pulling Morpheus again back towards herself and kept him there.

**_I do not trust you, Perseus Jackson. I do not like what your arrival means for the future of Olympus. _**

Many narrowed their eyes at this, just what was the ground for the now broken oath by two of three to have been so important to make.

**_But for the sake of peace in the family, I shall let you live."_**

No one commented, only rolled their eyes, the him not trusting his nephew could be said about almost each divinity, they doubted that Zeus trusted any of them.

**_"Um... thank you, sir."_**

**_"Do not presume to fly again. Do not let me find you here when I return. Otherwise you shall taste this bolt. And it shall be your last sensation."_**

And many were back to mumbling insults.

"Maybe he needs to spend some time with Mother." Phantasos said testily, Zeus certainly irritated him, maybe he can catch his two brothers and mix together a lovely nightmare he won't forget for a good few decades.

**_Thunder shook the palace. With a blinding flash of lightning, Zeus was gone._**

**_I was alone in the throne room with my father. "Your uncle," Poseidon sighed, "has always had a flair for dramatic exits. I think he would've done well as the god of theater."_**

There were several sound of approval while above the palace thunder rumbled, but was ignored.

**_An uncomfortable silence._**

**_"Sir," I said, "what was in that pit?"_**

**_Poseidon regarded me. "Have you not guessed?"_**

**_"Kronos," I said. "The king of the Titans."_**

Many shuddered as it seemed to become much colder around them, a cold which made even Khione the one responsible for snow shiver.

**_Even in the throne room of Olympus, far away from Tartarus, the name _****_Kronos_****_ darkened the room, made the hearth fire seem not quite so warm on my back._**

"The names of some of the more ancient divinities have this power if spoken that it invokes the feeling bound the most to their name." Hecate said while looking at her lap.

**_Poseidon gripped his trident. "In the First War, Percy, Zeus cut our father Kronos into a thousand pieces, just as Kronos had done to his own father, Ouranos._**

"Ah, yes the lovely family tradition, it is truly a wonder that till now Zeus had allowed his sons to live." Moros said as some of the divinities who were such stared nervously at the palace, they did not know that inside someone was knowing the ground why Zeus had till now let his male children live.

**_Zeus cast Kronos's remains into the darkest pit of Tartarus. The Titan army was scattered, their mountain fortress on Etna destroyed,_**

Aetna scowled at the reminder, she was almost also punished only because that thing was built on the place she guarded, she was still thankful to Lady Hestia for speaking up in her defence.

**_their monstrous allies driven to the farthest corners of the earth. And yet Titans cannot die, any more than we gods can. Whatever is left of Kronos is still alive in some hideous way, still conscious in his eternal pain, still hungering for power."_**

Many shuddered at this, fearing for their children who will be born in that era.

**_"He's healing," I said. "He's coming back."_**

**_Poseidon shook his head. "From time to time, over the eons, Kronos has stirred. He enters men's nightmares and breathes evil thoughts. He wakens restless monsters from the depths. But to suggest he could rise from the pit is another thing."_**

"But this time he had also lashed his control out on a god, used magic and almost caused a three-way divine war, I doubt that this had happened before." Boreas said in a stern tone, this was not a normal stirring, but the work of someone who knows that they will soon return.

**_"That's what he intends, Father. That's what he said."_**

**_Poseidon was silent for a long time._**

**_"Lord Zeus has closed discussion on this matter. He will not allow talk of Kronos._**

"And risk getting us all killed." grumbled Iris in annoyance, so much idiocy was hard to bear even for her patient self.

**_You have completed your quest, child. That is all you need to do."_**

Several of the females huffed angrily.

**_"But—" I stopped myself. Arguing would do no good. It would very possibly anger the only god who I had on my side. _**

"Don't worry, you have much more on your side." Melinoe said quietly, as long as this child is at least trying to understand her father she would give him her support.

**_"As ... as you wish, Father."_**

**_A faint smile played on his lips. "Obedience does not come naturally to you, does it?"_**

"Not at all," come it from most of the divinities and spirits as they remembered some of his actions in the book and guessed that there was plenty more to come.

**_"No ... sir."_**

**_"I must take some blame for that, I suppose. The sea does not like to be restrained."_**

His family nodded their heads in agreement.

**_He rose to his full height and took up his trident. Then he shimmered and became the size of a regular man, standing directly in front of me. "You must go, child. But first, know that your mother has returned."_**

At this several divinities smiled in happiness.

**_I stared at him, completely stunned. "My mother?"_**

**_"You will find her at home. Hades sent her when you recovered his helm. Even the Lord of Death pays his debts."_**

The three children of Hades smiled triumphantly, now the others had another proof that beside working hard every day their father had also a honourable side and always kept his word.

**_My heart was pounding. I couldn't believe it. "Do you ... would you ..."_**

"Sadly he can't." Psyche said while shaking her head, Eros only smiled down sadly at her before turning to look behind them if his brothers should be approaching, but till now he did not see either of them.

**_I wanted to ask if Poseidon would come with me to see her, but then I realized that was ridiculous. I imagined loading the God of the Sea into a taxi and taking him to the Upper East Side. _**

There were a few amused looks at the image, but no one laughed.

**_If he'd wanted to see my mom all these years, he would have. And there was Smelly Gabe to think about._**

Everyone growled at the reminder of that guy and hoped that he would be soon out of the picture.

**_Poseidon's eyes took on a little sadness. "When you return home, Percy, you must make an important choice. You will find a package waiting in your room."_**

Some looked confused while others looked suspicious, they had the guess that it could be the package Percy had sent, those who come to this conclusion suddenly broke out grinning which only added even more to the confusion of the others.

**_"A package?"_**

**_"You will understand when you see it. No one can choose your path, Percy. You must decide."_**

"Does this not in a way sound like some kind of test our sisters would pull of?" Epiphron whispered to Moros.

"Could be, they certainly seem to have a great interest in him if their actions beforehand in this book and the fact that they had sent them here is any indication for that." he whispered back.

**_I nodded, though I didn't know what he meant._**

**_"Your mother is a queen among women," Poseidon said wistfully. _**

Some of the gods bowed their heads, only a few of them had been granted to have their mortal lover forever at their side as a divine one, those who did pulled their partners closer or said partner tried not to look embarrassed.

**_"I had not met such a mortal woman in a thousand years. Still ... I am sorry you were born, child. I have brought you a hero's fate, and a hero's fate is never happy. It is never anything but tragic."_**

All those who had demigod children or favoured heroes nodded their heads in sadness, but foremost the children of Hades who saw those heroes whose lives had ended in tragedy every day and will continue on seeing them.

**_I tried not to feel hurt. Here was my own dad, telling me he was sorry I'd been born. _**

Many flinched, that sentence should have been better phrased.

**_"I don't mind, Father."_**

**_"Not yet, perhaps," he said. "Not yet. But it was an unforgivable mistake on my part."_**

"Ugh…and this is only making it worse." Phantasos groaned as he drove his hand through long locks of golden-brown hair.

**_"I'll leave you then." I bowed awkwardly. "I—I won't bother you again."_**

**_I was five steps away when he called, "Perseus."_**

**_I turned._**

**_There was a different light in his eyes, a fiery kind of pride. "You did well, Perseus. Do not misunderstand me. Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are a true son of the Sea God."_**

Many nodded in approval that he managed to get it finally together and the first meeting did not end in a complet disaster, Zeus of course was an unsolvable problem.

**_As I walked back through the city of the gods, conversations stopped. The muses paused their concert. _**

**_People and satyrs and naiads all turned toward me, their faces filled with respect and gratitude, and as I passed, they knelt, as if I were some kind of hero._**

"So now we got informed." Alala said with a raised eyebrow as many nodded.

**_Fifteen minutes later, still in a trance, I was back on the streets of Manhattan._**

**_I caught a taxi to my mom's apartment, rang the door bell, and there she was—my beautiful mother, smelling of peppermint and licorice, the weariness and worry evaporating from her face as soon as she saw me._**

**_"Percy! Oh, thank goodness. Oh, my baby."_**

Many smiled warmly at the reunion of mother and child.

**_She crushed the air right out of me. We stood in the hallway as she cried and ran her hands through my hair._**

**_I'll admit it—my eyes were a little misty, too._**

**_I was shaking, I was so relieved to see her._**

**_She told me she'd just appeared at the apartment that morning, scaring Gabe half out of his wits._**

At this some allowed themselves a small grin of satisfaction, served that guy right.

**_She didn't remember anything since the Minotaur,_**

"Happens if a live soul gets brought into the Underworld, if she wishes it the memories will return in a weeks time." Melinoe said shrugging.

**_and couldn't believe it when Gabe told her I was a wanted criminal, traveling across the country, blowing up national monuments. She'd been going out of her mind with worry all day because she hadn't heard the news._**

All mothers nodded in understanding, this was a normal reaction from a mother who cares for their child.

**_Gabe had forced her to go into work, saying she had a month's salary to make up and she'd better get started._**

And everyone was back to growling in anger while the voice of the huntress grew hateful, something everyone perfectly understood.

**_I swallowed back my anger and told her my own story. I tried to make it sound less scary than it had been, but that wasn't easy._**

The divinities were not even trying to restrain themselves.

* * *

**_I was just getting to the fight with Ares when Gabe's voice interrupted from the living room. "Hey, Sally! That meat loaf done yet or what?"_**

"As much as I know that it does not belong here at the moment, but I never know if someone talks about meat loaf if I should feel offended, laugh or head for the nearest shower." Nathan growled while beside the legacies everyone turned to him.

"What do you mean?" Jay asked his son.

"First chapter of the fifth book." he replied, back updating them that according to monsters demigods and thus also possibly the gods smell like meat loaf to them could wait. Not that he was asked further because Artemis continued reading her voice growing venomous with each word, her breathing irregular.

* * *

**_She closed her eyes. "He isn't going to be happy to see you, Percy. The store got half a million phone calls today from Los Angeles ... something about free appliances."_**

Everyone had dark smirks on their lips.

**_"Oh, yeah. About that..."_**

**_She managed a weak smile. "Just don't make him angrier, all right? Come on."_**

**_In the month I'd been gone, the apartment had turned into Gabeland. Garbage was ankle deep on the carpet. The sofa had been reupholstered in beer cans. Dirty socks and underwear hung off the lampshades._**

Several goddesses and female spirits let out sounds of disgust while even many of the males looked sick.

"Against that place look the temples of these two completely spotless." come the voice of Anteros as he sat back down beside Eros, the scowling and now at Morpheus glaring twins sat down somewhat farther from them.

"I was already growing worried that you had been not back by now." Eros whispered to his brother who gave him a soft smile and scooted closer to him.

"Sorry for making you worry, Phobos was a bit hard to make let go of his bed." he whispered back.

**_Gabe and three of his big goony friends were playing poker at the table._**

**_When Gabe saw me, his cigar dropped out of his mouth. His face got redder than lava. "You got nerve coming here, you little punk. I thought the police—"_**

Cue hisses of anger.

**_"He's not a fugitive after all," my mom interjected. "Isn't that wonderful, Gabe?"_**

**_Gabe looked back and forth between us. He didn't seem to think my homecoming was so wonderful._**

**_"Bad enough I had to give back your life insurance money, Sally," he growled._**

"Girls, I think we will be giving Alecto a hand with this one." one of the Keres spoke up as she looked over at her sisters who grinned eagerly at the idea as did many others.

**_"Get me the phone. I'll call the cops."_**

**_"Gabe, no!"_**

**_He raised his eyebrows. "Did you just say _****_'no'? _****_You think I'm gonna put up with this punk again? I can still press charges against him for ruining my Camaro."_**

**_"But—"_**

**_He raised his hand, and my mother flinched._**

**_For the first time, I realized something. Gabe had hit my mother. _**

This caused a new round of outrageous yelling and threats from both out and inside of the palace with many of the divinities making memos for themselves to ask Lord Hades to allow them at least five minutes with that mortal in Punishment.

"And people were the option that my father was cruel." Ariadne hissed, as said her father had many flaws, but she had never seen even the smallest evidence that he had dared to raise his hand against his wife or any of her sisters or herself.

It took everyone several minutes and a good deal of deep breaths till they could continue listening to the book, luckily seemed that those inside also needed this long to calm down enough to be able to continue.

**_I didn't know when, or how much. But I was sure he'd done it. Maybe _****_it _****_had been going on for years, when I wasn't around._**

**_A balloon of anger started expanding in my chest. I came toward Gabe, instinctively taking my pen out of my pocket._**

"Saddly it would not work against him." a satyr said in disgust, he would have loved to put this one in the middle of a stampede.

**_He just laughed. "What, punk? You gonna write on me? You touch me, and you are going to jail forever, you understand?"_**

"No, it will be you who will suffer for eternity in the realm of our Father." Melinoe hissed while many looked pleased at this.

**_"Hey, Gabe," his friend Eddie interrupted. "He's just a kid."_**

"Still the only one of those thugs who has at least a brain." Soteria mumbled distastefully.

**_Gabe looked at him resentfully and mimicked in a falsetto voice: _****_"Just a kid."_**

**_His other friends laughed like idiots._**

Many continued growling, hoping that it will end soon, they were having a hard time here to not influence the mortal world with their powers.

**_"I'll be nice to you, punk." Gabe showed me his tobacco-stained teeth. "I'll give you five minutes to get your stuff and clear out. After that, I call the police."_**

**_"Gabe!" my mother pleaded._**

**_"He ran away," Gabe told her. "Let him stay gone."_**

"It will be better when you are gone." Iris hissed in a venomous tone.

**_I was itching to uncap Riptide, but even if I did, the blade wouldn't hurt humans. And Gabe, by the loosest definition, was human._**

"Barely," many muttered in disgust.

**_My mother took my arm. "Please, Percy. Come on. We'll go to your room."_**

**_I let her pull me away, my hands still trembling with rage._**

**_My room had been completely filled with Gabe's junk. There were stacks of used car batteries, a rotting bouquet of sympathy flowers with a card from somebody who'd seen his Barbara Walters interview._**

"What a joke." Tyche rolled her eyes.

**_"Gabe is just upset, honey," my mother told me. "I'll talk to him later. I'm sure it will work out."_**

**_"Mom, it'll never work out. Not as long as Gabe's here."_**

**_She wrung her hands nervously. "I can ... I'll take you to work with me for the rest of the summer. In the fall, maybe there's another boarding school—"_**

**_"Mom."_**

"She should listen to him, if he stays he will only destroy her." Nemesis said while shaking her head, one should know when to end something before it is too late to turn back, she had not given up on her bond to Artemis even thought she felt the danger and she had paid for it.

**_She lowered her eyes. "I'm trying, Percy. I just... I need some time."_**

**_A package appeared on my bed. At least, I could've sworn it hadn't been there a moment before._**

**_It was a battered cardboard box about the right size to fit a basketball. The address on the mailing slip was in my own handwriting:_**

**_The Gods_**

**_MountOlympus_**

**_600th Floor,_**

**_EmpireState Building_**

**_New York, NY_**

**_With best wishes,_**

**_PERCY JACKSON_**

**_Over the top in black marker, in a man's clear, bold print, was the address of our apartment, and the words: RETURN TO SENDER._**

Now everyone understood what Poseidon meant and were grinning evily, Celestrial Bronze may not work on mortals, but Medusa's head certainly has no such limitations.

**_Suddenly I understood what Poseidon had told me on Olympus._**

**_A package. A decision._**

**_Whatever else you do, know that you are mine. You are a true son of the Sea God._**

**_I looked at my mother. "Mom, do you want Gabe gone?" _**

**_"Percy, it isn't that simple. I—"_**

**_"Mom, just tell me. That jerk has been hitting you. Do you want him gone or not?"_**

"I think everyone does since the minute we heard about him." Iris said, she hated violence, but that mortal was making her want to just hurt him in that way.

**_She hesitated, then nodded almost imperceptibly. "Yes, Percy. I do. And I'm trying to get up my courage to tell him. But you can't do this for me. You can't solve my problems."_**

**_I looked at the box._**

**_I _****_could _****_solve her problem. I wanted to slice that package open, plop it on the poker table, and take out what was inside. I could start my very own statue garden, right there in the living room._**

Many grinned while Moros looked together with Epiphron at the palace, waiting if Percy would understand this test just like he did in the Underworld or not.

**_That's what a Greek hero would do in the stories, I thought. That's what Gabe deserves._**

There were several nods of agreement.

**_But a hero's story always ended in tragedy. Poseidon had told me that._**

**_I remembered the Underworld. I thought about Gabe's spirit drifting forever in the Fields of Asphodel,_**

"Don't worry cousin, he will not even need the Judges to condone him, he will be right away escorted to Punishment." Zagreus said with a wicked grin on his lips.

**_or condemned to some hideous torture behind the barbed wire of the Fields of Punishment—an eternal poker game, sitting up to his waist in boiling oil listening to opera music._**

"Not a bad idea, but I'm sure that we can find something even more interesting for him." Eris said smirking.

**_Did I have the right to send someone there? Even Gabe?_**

**_A month ago, I wouldn't have hesitated. Now ..._**

Epiphron nodded his head, the boy was starting to understand.

**_"I can do it," I told my mom. "One look inside this box, and he'll never bother you again."_**

**_She glanced at the package, and seemed to understand immediately. "No, Percy," she said, stepping away. "You can't."_**

**_"Poseidon called you a queen," I told her. "He said he hadn't met a woman like you in a thousand years."_**

**_Her cheeks flushed. "Percy—"_**

**_"You deserve better than this, Mom. You should go to college, get your degree. You can write your novel, meet a nice guy maybe, live in a nice house. You don't need to protect me anymore by staying with Gabe. Let me get rid of him."_**

There were several nods of agreement at this, she really deserved better then this.

**_She wiped a tear off her cheek. "You sound so much like your father," she said. "He offered to stop the tide for me once. He offered to build me a palace at the bottom of the sea. He thought he could solve all my problems with a wave of his hand."_**

A good deal of deities blushed, they had often said something similar to their mortal lovers and would have done it too while inside the palace Poseidon looked apologetically at his wife who only shook her head that it was fine.

**_"What's wrong with that?"_**

**_Her multicolored eyes seemed to search inside me. "I think you know, Percy. I think you're enough like me to understand. If my life is going to mean anything, I have to live it myself. I can't let a god take care of me ... or my son. I have to ... find the courage on my own. Your quest has reminded me of that."_**

Some of the divinities looked thoughtful while others nodded their heads in an approving way at her words.

**_We listened to the sound of poker chips and swearing, ESPN from the living room television._**

**_"I'll leave the box," I said. "If he threatens you …"_**

**_She looked pale, but she nodded. "Where will you go, Percy?"_**

**_"Half-Blood Hill."_**

**_"For the summer ... or forever?"_**

**_"I guess that depends."_**

**_We locked eyes, and I sensed that we had an agreement. We would see how things stood at the end of the summer._**

"She needed that push to decide her future." Ariadne said softly from beside Arete who nodded her head in agreement.

**_She kissed my forehead. "You'll be a hero, Percy. You'll be the greatest of all."_**

"He is on the good way to prove her right." Nike said nodding her head.

**_I took one last look around my bedroom. I had a feeling I'd never see it again. Then I walked with my mother to the front door._**

**_"Leaving so soon, punk?" Gabe called after me. "Good riddance."_**

Many scoffed at this, hoping that Sally would use the head.

**_I had one last twinge of doubt. How could I turn down the perfect chance to take revenge on him? I was leaving here without saving my mother._**

**_"Hey, Sally," he yelled. "What about that meat loaf, huh?"_**

**_A steely look of anger flared in my mother's eyes, and I thought, just maybe, I was leaving her in good hands after all. Her own._**

Many started smiling that she will step up now in her own protection towards that brute, his usefulness was gone and now he should disappear from her life.

**_"The meat loaf is coming right up, dear," she told Gabe. "Meat loaf surprise."_**

Some of the divinities broke out into grins at this, that sentence was anwer enough of what she had decided and when she would do it.

**_She looked at me, and winked._**

**_The last thing I saw as the door swung closed was my mother staring at Gabe, as if she were contemplating how he would look as a garden statue._**

"Probably just as dreadful as he looks alive, but with the added bonus that she does not need to clean after him, give him her money and the best hear him talk." Eris said grinning happily before looking thoughtful. "Regards his smell I'm not sure though." she said while many of the others broke out laughing, they did not care about the smell only that the mortal will soon face a rather angry looking Lord Hades in the Underworld.

_To be continued…_


End file.
